KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar tumbled 2c against the greenback early today as stocks slid in the United States after figures showed a big slide in US retail sales.
By 8am today the NZ dollar was buying US60.70c , having been above US62.60c just 4-1/2 hours earlier. It had climbed from US61.70c at 5pm yesterday.
Around 8am the Dow Jones industrial average was down 5.6 per cent for the day, after data earlier overnight showed US retail sales decreased 1.2 per cent last month.
ANZ said the night was relatively quiet for the NZ dollar by recent standards. The weaker than expected US retail sales, contributing to the selloff on the Dow, had quickly dashed hopes of a solid move for the kiwi above US62.50c.
The kiwi did gain against the Australian dollar overnight and by today's local open was at A90.10c, from A88.75c at 5pm.
The NZ dollar slipped against European and Japanese currencies - to 0.4490 euro from 0.4542, and to 61.17 yen from 62.50. The trade weighted index was 60.25 at 8am from 60.84 at 5pm.
BNZ currency strategist Danica Hampton said worries about the global growth outlook had taken a toll on growth sensitive currencies such as the NZ dollar, particularly against safe-haven currencies such as the yen.
The euro fell against the US dollar and yen, weighed down by steep losses in US stocks as global risk aversion increased. The greenback also fell against the yen.
- NZPA
