Dollar loses steam against greenback

The New Zealand dollar lost some steam today when the United States dollar rose on comments by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

M r Bernanke reiterated that accommodative policies were likely to be warranted for an extended period, but added that as a recovery takes hold, it might need to tighten to prevent inflation.

The NZ dollar was US73.94c at 5pm from US74.30c at 8am and US73.99c at 5pm yesterday.

The US dollar has been under relentless pressure on the prospects of US interest rates remaining low when interest rates have started rising in this part of the world.

The NZ dollar squeaked briefly above US74.50c for the first time in more than 14 months as the Australian dollar rose on strong economic data this week.

ANZ bank said the NZ dollar was "riding in kanga's pouch".

The aussie got close to US91c on Thursday night and was US90.45c at 5pm today.

Against the aussie the NZ dollar was A81.73c at 5pm from A81.98c at the same time yesterday.

The NZ dollar has been at a 16-month high of 0.504 euro but was 0.5021 by 5pm from 0.5012 yesterday, and was up to 65.95 yen from 65.31. The trade weighted index was 66.65 at 5pm from 66.59 yesterday.

- NZPA