NZ currency: Dollar trends down

The New Zealand dollar was little changed today, having retreated during the week from a 10 month high.

The NZ dollar was at US67.07c at 5pm from US67.12c at the same time yesterday.

BNZ said optimism about the global economic recovery and improving risk appetite saw investors pare back safe haven positions in currencies like the US dollar and Japanese yen.

The US dollar index has fallen about 4 per cent to a 10 month low of 77.45 since the start of July.

Growth sensitive currencies like the NZ dollar tend to benefit from a paring back of safe haven positions.

The NZ dollar put on a strong performance in July and seemed to have an aura of invincibility, BNZ said.

ANZ said the currency has support at US66.50c.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was at 63.95 yen from 63.80 at 5pm yesterday, while also rising to 0.4668 euro from 0.4659.

Against the Australian dollar, the NZ dollar rose to A79.98c at today's local close from A79.50c yesterday. The trade weighted index rose to 62.22 at 5pm from 62.02 yesterday.

- NZPA