The New Zealand dollar is down almost half a US cent since late Friday, led down by a drop in long-term interest rates.
Bancorp Treasury Services senior client advisor Peter Cavanaugh said the New Zealand dollar had been somewhat range-bound, as the ongoing hostage-taking incident, in Sydney's central business district, unsettled the market.
He said there has been a dramatic drop in New Zealand's longer term interest rates following on from offshore moves on Friday.
At about 5pm, the kiwi was trading at 77.43 US cents, 94.15 Australian cents, 49.29 British pence, 0.6226 euro, 91.86 yen and 4.80 renminbi.
NZ shares fall
New Zealand shares fell, the benchmark Top 50 Index shedding 16 points to 5499.
Forsyth Barr investment advisor Dave Schaper said the local market was following other share markets down because of plummeting oil prices.
Air New Zealand shares fell 3 cents to $2.44, shares in New Zealand Oil & Gas fell half a cent to 64.5 cents, while units in Kiwi Income Property Trust gained 1 cent to $1.24.