The New Zealand dollar eased against the US dollar, which lost ground heavily to the euro following a signal from the US Federal Reserve its 18 month tightening phase was ending.
The kiwi fell to a US70.76c close from US71.05c yesterday.
The US dollar hit a six-week low against the euro and a two-week low versus the yen as traders rushed to book profits on the US currency's gains.
As expected, the Fed this morning bumped up its key rate for a 13th straight meeting to 4.25 per cent but seemed to signal the pace of US rates rises could begin to slow.
The signal that the rate hikes were coming to an end came in a slight change in the public statement in which the Fed dropped the description of current rate hikes as accommodative.
By dropping the word accommodative, the Fed acknowledged that it had now pushed rates up to a level where they were in a neutral range and not spurring increased activity.
But the Fed also said that "some further measured policy firming is likely to be needed," and some analysts are picking one final hike at Alan Greenspan's last meeting as Fed chairman on January 31.
Locally, retail sales figures released today were mixed, but economists said the numbers suggested continuing underlying strength in the retail sector.
Seasonally-adjusted retail sales fell 0.2 per cent in October compared to September, against economists' expectations of a 0.3 per cent rise.
Statistics New Zealand's headline sales numbers were down but excluding auto sales, core sales were up.
The Australian dollar also eased - to US75.47c from US75.60c yesterday and the kiwi cross rate fell to A93.74c from A94.02c.
Rates:
5pm today 5pm Tuesday
NZ dlr/US dlr US70.76 US71.05
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A93.74 A94.02
NZ dlr/euro 0.5885 0.5942
NZ dlr/yen 84.13 85.10
NZ dlr/stg 39.87 40.01
NZ TWI 72.57 73.04
Australian dollar US75.47c US75.60c
Euro/US dollar US1.2020 US1.1962
US dollar/yen 118.93 119.72
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi loses ground against Greenback
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