KEY POINTS:
A large interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia late this afternoon helped push the New Zealand dollar above US51c, well above last night's six-year low.
The kiwi had dropped below and looked set to revisit that level before long.
"It could do this for one to two or even three sessions, just hovering around in this corrective phase, and then it will turn around and have another attack at US50c -- it might have a few goes at it and eventually break through," said Imre Speizer, Westpac senior market strategist.
By 5pm, the kiwi had rebounded to US50.97c from US50.33c late yesterday afternoon, having risen just above US51c following the RBA decision.
Against the Aussie, the kiwi was at A79.57c from A79.63c. The NZ dollar was a touch weaker against the euro, but had gained against the yen and sterling.
The RBA cut its official rate by 100 basis points to a record low of 3.25 percent as it tried to protect the economy from the global recession.
That compared with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's 150-point interest rate cut last week to 3.50 percent.
Earlier today, the Australian government unveiled a $42 billion ($NZ53.3 billion) stimulus package.
The yen fell broadly today after the Bank of Japan said it would start buying shares held by Japanese banks, stirring hopes for a rise in share prices and an easing of risk aversion.
Reuters currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US50.97c US50.33c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A79.57c A79.63c
NZ dlr/euro 0.3951 0.3958
NZ dlr/yen 45.77 45.09
NZ dlr/stg 35.75 35.08
NZ TWI 51.61 51.27
Aust dlr/US dlr 64.08c 63.21c
Euro/US dlr 1.2894 1.2714
US dlr/yen 89.74 89.54
- NZPA
