KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar strengthened against major currencies overnight, but slipped against its Australian counterpart amid a background of soaring global stocks.
Led by Britain, European governments agreed to multibillion-dollar guarantees for the banking system.
Unlimited US dollar auctions from the Federal Reserve and three other central banks also weakened demand for greenback and prompted investors to take on more risk after running for the hills on Friday.
By 8am the New Zealand dollar was buying US60.68c, from US59.80c at 5pm yesterday.
ANZ bank said initial euphoria on government deposit guarantee schemes in Australasia lingered throughout the day yesterday - during which the kiwi got up to US61.45c.
A reversal from the highs of yesterday was an accurate summation of the markets' perception of reality, ANZ said.
The NZ dollar was also up against the European currency, at 0.4505 euro by today's local open from 0.4418 at 5pm. The kiwi also rose to 61.66 yen from 59.85.
Against the aussie, the NZ dollar slipped to A89.47c at 8am from A90.05c at yesterday's local close, with ANZ saying sanity was returning slowly.
The trade weighted index was 60.20 at 8am from 59.59.
Both the euro and greenback rose against the yen, as renewed risk appetite made the Japanese currency one of the poorest performers. Last week the low-yield yen surged as anxious investors unwound trades financed with the Japanese currency.
- NZPA