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US $1 and NZ dollar coin - Source: ONE News -
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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 on Thursday.
The kiwi sank to a six-month low of around US68.50c early on Friday morning, before clawing back up to US68.83 cents at 8am - well down on its US69.80 cents level at the close of Thursday's local trading session.
Thursday's release of a 7.3% 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 New Zealand 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 A79.45 cents at 8am from A79.26 cents at 5pm on Thursday. 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.
