An international flight back to "safe haven" currencies pushed the New Zealand dollar another US cent lower overnight after it plunged more than a cent on worse than expected jobless figures yesterday.The kiwi sank to a six-month low of around U
An international flight back to "safe haven" currencies pushed the New Zealand dollar another US cent lower overnight after it plunged more than a cent on worse than expected jobless figures yesterday.
The kiwi sank to a six-month low of around US68.50c early this morning, before clawing back up to US68.83c at 8am -- well down on its US69.80c level at the close of yesterday's local trading session.
Yesterday's release of a 7.3 percent unemployment rate for the December quarter shocked the market. The higher than expected increase in unemployment means interest rates may remain lower for longer, which makes the NZ dollar less attractive to investors.
Reuters reported from New York that the US dollar and yen soared as fears about the euro zone's worsening fiscal problems and weak US jobless claims data drove investors to abandon risky assets for traditional safe havens.
The kiwi firmed against the aussie -- to A79.45c at 8am from A79.26c at 5pm yesterday. But it fell against other major currencies -- to 0.5000 euro from 0.5028 euro and 61.28 yen from 63.44 yen.
The euro plunged to a more than eight-month low against the dollar and sank to a nearly one-year trough versus the yen on concerns over the fiscal health of debt-laden countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain.
The trade weighted index fell to 63.81 from 64.52.
