Kiwi dollar keeps sliding

The New Zealand dollar continued to fall against the greenback after US markets felt the impact of moves by US President Barack Obama to curb bank risk-taking which would in turn hit banks' profits.

The kiwi lost more ground as aversion to risk took hold in the wake of uncertainty about the future of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke coupled with Obama's plan took its toll on the US markets on Friday.

Around 8am today the kiwi was buying US70.95c down from US71.30c at 5pm on Friday.

The NZ dollar also dropped further against the euro to 0.5014 - a new low for the year from its position of 0.5046 at Friday's close. Against the Australian dollar it was a similar story, down to A78.57c, from A78.86c.

Against the yen the kiwi was slightly up at 64.10 yen after the local close of 64.06 on Friday and it was up against the British currency at 44.06p from 43.95p.

The trade weighted index fell from 65.04 at 5pm on Friday to 64.80 at 8am.

Westpac strategist Imre Speizer said the NZ dollar would continue to be affected by an aversion to risk and tipped a quiet session due to the Wellington Anniversary holiday today.

He said the euro had been helped by stronger European industrial orders and a bond issue by Greece while the yen had benefitted from the uncertainty.

- NZPA