The New Zealand dollar fell against the United States dollar on Tuesday as well as against the euro and yen, but was little changed against the Australian dollar and British pound.
ANZ Bank's senior manager in the foreign exchange market, Sam Tuck, says the weakness follows comments from the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, and also reflects concerns about the health of China's banking system.
He says Mr Stevens has been much more forceful in his recent comments suggesting that the current value of the Australian dollar is "not justified by the fundamentals".
Mr Tuck says this may have affected the NZ dollar, which has also been weakened by jitters ahead of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand meeting on Thursday. The market is concerned the Governor, Graeme Wheeler, may comment on the strength of the kiwi.
"The other factors that are driving the New Zealand dollar today are a quick reversal in the Chinese stock market - concerns over the health of the Chinese banking system still remain."
At 5.20pm on Tuesday the kiwi was trading at 82.64 US cents, 86.90 Australian cents, 51.34 pence, 0.5997 euro and 80.56 yen.
