Kiwi dollar up

The New Zealand dollar found support against a handful of major currencies, was choppy against the greenback, but fell against the Australian dollar overnight.

Against the US dollar it was up nearly a third of a cent at 8am to US71.63c from US71.33c at 5pm yesterday.

BNZ currency strategist Danica Hampton described the kiwi as trading "choppily" within a US71-72c range.

Overnight, the Japanese yen's strength dissipated a little, as Japan's Finance Minister clarified that his recent comments did not mean he endorsed a strong yen, and a host of merger and acquisition activity saw global equities rebound strongly.

Against a backdrop of recovering risk appetite, the kiwi climbed from sub-US71.50c back up towards US72c, she said.

The bank expected today's bounces against the US dollar to be limited to US72.20c. Initial support was eyed ahead of US71.10c, but a break below this level will open up the downside towards US70.60.

Against the euro, the kiwi was up to 0.4909 euro at 8am from 0.4887 at 5pm yesterday.

It was up to 64.31 yen, from 63.72 yesterday, and also up slightly against the British pound to 45.16p from 45.10p.

However, the kiwi was down against the Australian dollar to A82.26c from A82.81c.

The trade weighted index rose to 65.34 from 65.19.

Meanwhile, in overseas exchanges the US dollar pared its losses against the yen, pushing the Japanese currency off an eight-month high on Monday. It slid below 89 yen, after Hirohisa Fujii told Dow Jones newswires current moves were "not abnormal".

The euro slipped 0.3 per cent to $1.4638 but was off earlier lows as European markets shrugged off earlier losses.

The pound stayed on the ropes, sliding to its weakest since late May and breaking below support for sterling around $1.5800. It last traded at $1.5899 .

- NZPA