Kiwi claws back as aussie dips

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The New Zealand dollar recovered from a fresh six-week low after buyers came out of the woodwork when they saw the Australian dollar dropped below parity with the greenback, spurring demand for a cheap entry point.

The kiwi was little changed at US76.16c at 5pm from US76.26c at 8am, though it was still down from US76.68c on Thursday. The currency touched a fresh six-week low of US75.78c during local trading.

Investors took the opportunity to buy into the transtasman currencies after a weak Spanish bond auction heightened fears about Europe's ability to meet its debt obligations and sapped demand for higher-yielding, riskier assets.

That saw the Australian dollar dip below parity with the US dollar, and local buyers used that as an opportunity to buy the currency.

"At US99.50c [the Australian dollar] has attractive demand and that's what we've seen, good domestic demand," said Alex Hill, senior currency strategist at HiFX.

The kiwi rose to A76.16c from A75.66c on Thursday, and fell to 58.56 from 58.99 on Thursday. It eased to €56.40c from €56.67c and slipped to 48.29p from 48.57p.

US 76.16c
what the NZ dollar was buying at 5pm