Currency: NZ dollar drifts lower

The New Zealand dollar drifted lower today after tumbling on Thursday night when world stock markets and high-yielding currencies dropped as investors retreated from riskier assets.

The NZ dollar was at US70.35c at 5pm from US70.85c at 8am and US71.22c at 5pm yesterday.

Both the Australian and NZ dollars gleaned some support during the session after China set a higher mid-point for the yuan today. But there was still a broader feeling of risk aversion in trading today.

The Federal Reserve offered a subdued assessment of the US economy this week and affirmed that short-term interest rates would remain near zero for "an extended period," which pressured US equities for a second consecutive day on Thursday.

Concerns about Greece were also weighing in the euro zone, as the cost of protecting its government debt against default hit a record high.

BNZ said the New Zealand merchandise trade report for May today was close to market expectation and had no implications for economic growth. ANZ said the data had no implications for monetary policy.

"With data earlier in the week suggesting the rebalancing of the economy towards the productive sector is continuing, today's data is another step in the right direction," ANZ said.

The NZ dollar was at A81.66c by 5pm from A81.44c at the same yesterday. It was at 0.5715 euro from 0.5771, and 63.00 yen from 63.97.

- NZPA