Kiwi dollar makes gentle rise

The New Zealand dollar rose slightly today against a global backdrop of improved appetite for risk.

The NZ dollar was buying US64.80c at 5pm, up from US64.40c at 8am, a level which was unchanged from Friday at 5pm.

Equity markets across Asia posted gains today after Wall Street had the best week in four months last week.

"Last week's US earnings reports surprised most on the upside, and helped risk appetite swing back into buy mode," Westpac said.

"This week will be a test of whether that positive sentiment has legs."

The NZ dollar has broadly been moving sideways since the start of June and there is little local economic or corporate news this week.

Dealers expect the currency to continue to reflect changes in international sentiment.

Prime Minister John Key said today that the issues credit rating company Fitch raised last week when changing the outlook on New Zealand's rating were ones the Government was aware of and was trying to fix.

"We do need to get on top of that and listen to Fitch but really the main ratings agencies are Moody's and Standard & Poor's," he said on Newstalk ZB.

The NZ dollar rose to 61.35 yen at 5pm from 60.30 at the same time on Friday, and eased slightly against the Australian dollar to A80.30c from A80.50c. Against the euro it was 0.4574 from 0.4564 on Friday.

The trade weighted index rose to 60.87 at 5pm from 60.58 on Friday.

- NZPA