Kiwi dollar falls against greenback

After another unsuccessful run at the US69c level overnight, the New Zealand dollar fell around a cent as the greenback strengthened broadly.

By 8am the NZ dollar was down to US68.08c, having peaked 12 hours earlier at US68.94c according to Reuters data.

The kiwi has not topped US69c since last September, although it came within a whisker of reaching that level this week.

ANZ bank said there was another failed attempt higher by the NZ dollar overnight.

"It wasn't just a kiwi story however, the USD finding favour across the board as global risk appetite waned," ANZ said.

The kiwi did manage to lift against its trans-Tasman counterpart, peaking at a 4-1/2-month high of A82.37c, before easing to A82.21c by 8am, from A82.07c at 5pm yesterday.

ANZ said the overnight US dollar strength had hit Australia a little harder than it did the NZ dollar.

The US dollar rose as news that China intended to curb excessive investment in a range of industries underscored concerns about a global recovery and tempered the positive impact of data showing a jump in new US home sales.

High-yielding and commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian dollar also fell after European equities snapped four straight sessions of gains led by commodity stocks.

The NZ dollar slipped to 0.4777 euro at 8am from 0.4804 at 5pm, and was down to 64.10 yen from 64.65. The trade weighted index dropped to 63.48 at 8am from 63.82 at 5pm.

- NZPA