NZ dollar falls ahead of Greek vote

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The New Zealand dollar slipped lower against the greenback as investors sold higher yielding or riskier assets in favour of safe-haven holdings ahead of a Greek vote on a new austerity package.

Global equities and commodities closed the week lower last week amid falling investor appetite for risk assets ahead of this week's vote in Greece.

The new package of tax hikes and spending cuts needs to pass in order for European officials and the International Monetary Fund to release the next tranche of funds under the current bail if the heavily indebted country is to avoid default.

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 1.2 per cent lower on Friday at 1,268.45, while Europe's Stoxx 600 dropped 0.1 per cent to 263.98.

Commodities fell 0.1 per cent to 329.89, as measured by the Thompson Reuters Jefferies CRB Index, a measure of 19 hard and soft commodities.

"We've seen how these things can play out before, and even if it passes it's far from a done deal which is causing market to be cautious," said Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy for ANZ New Zealand.

"Markets are looking to shun risk and that's seen both the kiwi dollar and Aussie heading lower."

The kiwi recently traded at 80.92 US cents, down from 81.01 cents on Friday in New York, and was unchanged at 70.42 on the trade-weighted index of major trading partners' currencies.

It slipped to 77.14 Australian cents from 77.23 cents last week, and fell to 65.07 yen from 65.18 yen.

It declined to 56.90 euro cents from 57.13 cents on Friday, and was dropped to 50.67 pence from 50.72 pence previously.

The kiwi may trade between 80.50 US cents and 81.20 cents, Goh said, with the bias towards the downside.