The Australian dollar fell on Thursday on risk aversion following weaker equities and commodities, while benign inflation data in New Zealand weighed on the kiwi. The high-yielding Aussie $0.9963, having fallen as low as $0.9940, well off a two-week high of $1.0077 set overnight.
The Aussie made strong gains against its New Zealand counterpart, rising to a one-week high of NZ$1.3044. It fell to a one-week low of $0.7636, after it had fallen steadily to $0.7645/50 following the inflation data, and then being driven to the session low as the US dollar was bought. The Aussie pushed to a high of NZ$1.3044 from NZ$1.2990 after the data, before easing back to NZ$1.3013. The currency also lost ground on the yen at 81.85 yen, having earlier fallen to a near one-week low at 81.67 yen.