Business

NZ dollar continues to hover at three-year lows

18:39 pm on 27 January 2015

The New Zealand dollar has continued to hover at three-year lows against its American counterpart.

The currency fell as-low-as 73.94 US cents early today.

Senior client advisor at Bancorp Treasury Peter Cavanaugh said the kiwi had fallen out of favour following moves by central banks to stimulate their economies last week, and the Greek election results this week.

The kiwi was trading at 74.25 US cents, just below yesterday evening's 74.3 cent level, 93.55 Australian cents, 49.18 British pence, point-6605 euro, 87.77 yen and 4.64 renminbi, tonight.

NZ shares rise

New Zealand shares rose today - the benchmark Top 50 Index reaching a fresh record at 5738 points, up 39.

Managing director at Salt Funds Management Paul Harrison said the gains reflected investors chasing dividend-paying stocks in an environment of low interest rates globally.

Spark shares gained 4.5 cents to $3.39 while shares in Genesis Energy rose 1 cent to $2.24 and Mighty River Power shares climbed 6 cents to $3.50.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shares jumped 16 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $6.16.

Shares in New Zealand Oil & Gas rose 1.5 cents to 63 cents after the explorer said it believed more can be extracted from the Kupe gas and oil field.

New Zealand Oil and Gas has a 15 percent interest in Kupe while Genesis Energy owns 31 percent.