The New Zealand dollar will probably test US78c this week as the currency rides the wave of stronger prices for raw materials.

The New Zealand dollar recovered yesterday from a fall triggered by weaker than expected growth data for the September quarter.

Authorities say a string of brazen and violent bank robberies in Auckland are probably linked, after a shotgun-wielding bank robber wished a terrified customer a Merry Christmas before taking off with about $100,000 cash.

Herald deputy business editor Grant Bradley, who has visited the Pike River mine and covered the company for the Business Herald, on why today's receivership move by Pike River was inevitable.