NZ Dollar Falls Amid Rising Risk Aversion

The New Zealand dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as Asian stock markets traded lower following the lackluster cues from Wall Street and as weaker commodity prices weighed on resources stocks.

Investors also digested mixed corporate earnings results.

Thursday, the NZ dollar rose 0.65 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.35 percent against the yen, 0.38 percent against the euro and 0.39 percent against the Australian dollar.

In the Asian trading, the NZ dollar fell to 1.4664 against the euro and 0.7214 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.4631 and 0.7229, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.49 against the euro and 0.70 against the greenback.

Against the yen, the kiwi dropped to 81.35 from an early high of 81.59. The kiwi may test support near the 79.00 region.

The kiwi edged down to 1.0688 against the Australian dollar, from an early 4-day high of 1.0656. On the downside, 1.07 is seen as the next support level for the kiwi.

Looking ahead, the German import price index for January is due to be released in the pre-European session at 2:00 am ET.

U.K. BBA mortgage approvals for January is slated for release at 4:30 am ET.

In the New York session, Canada CPI data for January, U.S. new home sales data for January, U.S. University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index for February and U.S. Baker Hughes rig count data are set to be announced.