The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback, dragged down by its trans-Tasman counterpart after Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe talked about considering a rate cut in two weeks' time.
The kiwi was trading at 65.11 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 65.32 at 8am and at 94.60 Australian cents from 94.50. The trade-weighted index fell to 71.90 points from 72.08.
Westpac senior market strategist Imre Speizer says a spate of Australian news knocked the New Zealand currency around, with an announcement by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority this morning sending it as low as 94.45 Australian cents and Lowe's comments pushing it as high as 94.70 cents.
APRA announced it is thinking of letting authorised deposit-taking Institutions make their own assessments of whether borrowers can afford their repayment obligations. Currently, APRA's guidance is that banks should use a minimum interest rate of 7 per cent in making their affordability calculations.
Lowe's comments came in a speech to the Economic Society of Australia in Brisbane.