The New Zealand dollar was the biggest gainer among the world's 10 most-traded currencies and set a new high against the euro as the Germany economy shrank and Fitch Ratings urged the European Central Bank to do more to tackle the region's debt woes.
The New Zealand dollar recently traded
at 62.60 euro cents and earlier reached 62.67 cents, the highest since the common currency was released in 2002, up from 62.24 cents at 5pm yesterday. The kiwi rose to 79.57 US cents from 79.31 cents.
The Germany economy shrank 0.25 per cent in the fourth quarter from the third, after growing 3 per cent last year, according to the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden. The European Union also lowered euro-area growth to 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, from a 0.2 per cent estimated earlier, stoking investor concerns the crisis will worsen.
"The New Zealand dollar remains relatively attractive," said Alex Sinton, senior deal at ANZ New Zealand. "You can't bank on the exchange rate moving a certain way - but around this time of year we do tend to have a kick up in the kiwi."
Fitch urged the European Central Bank to boost bond purchases to combat the debt crisis to help prevent the collapse of the shared currency.
