NZ dollar drifts lower

The New Zealand dollar drifted lower today, particularly against an Australian dollar boosted by strong employment data.

Weakness in the euro on concerns about Greece's finances, and a weak performance by Wall Street added to a negative tone.

The NZ dollar was US70.46c at 5pm, down from US70.77c at 8am, but little changed from US70.45c at 5pm yesterday. It had risen to US70.90c on Wednesday night.

"Kiwi, when we came in, was around US70.70c but the Dow turned negative. The euro and sterling were weaker as well and that didn't help," one dealer said.

The NZ dollar fell to A75.91c at 5pm from A76.01c at the same time yesterday after firm jobs data in Australia today. The cross rate had touched a nine-year low around A75.5c this week.

The 19,600 jobs added in Australia in March was in line with market expectations of a 20,000 rise as was the 5.3 per cent unemployment rate but the 30,100 rise in full time employment was higher than expected.

"There's been a bit of a play on the aussie cross," one dealer said.

The euro fell to its weakest level in two weeks and was near its low for the year as investors were again worried about debt levels in Greece. The NZ dollar rose to 0.5283 euro at 5pm from 0.5264 at the same time yesterday.

The NZ dollar fell to 65.65 yen at 5pm from 66.34 yesterday.

The trade weighted index was 65.61 at 5pm from 65.60 yesterday.

- NZPA