Mixed day for NZ dollar

The New Zealand dollar fell against a strong yen today but it got a boost along with the Australian dollar from comments by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens.

Dealers said it was a mixed session. The NZ dollar rose to US72.30c after Mr Stevens said Australia's economic prospects were good , suggesting that interest rates were on the way up.

"The aussie was dragged higher and the kiwi was dragged along on its coat tails," BNZ Capital senior strategist Danica Hampton said.

"But it was only a brief blip higher," she said.

The NZ dollar was back at US71.33c at 5pm from US71.89c at the same time on Friday.

Westpac said it was difficult to predict direction for the NZ dollar this week because technical and fundamental factors were not pointing the same way. It is a heavy data week in the US but a light one in New Zealand.

Ms Hampton said investors were also concerned that Japanese authorities were not doing anything about recent yen strength and there were lingering concerns about the global economic outlook.

The NZ dollar was at 63.72 yen by 5pm from 65.35 yen on Friday.

It was little changed at A82.81c from A82.76c on Friday.

The NZ dollar remained strong against the weak pound at 45.10p from 44.92p on Friday, but commentators wondered if the pound's weakness against a range of currencies was overdone.

The trade weighted index was 65.19 from 65.61 on Friday.

- NZPA