The New Zealand dollar gained nearly half a cent against the Australian dollar today, but was little changed against other major trading partners.
Westpac currency strategist Imre Speizer said falling iron ore prices and comments from the Reserve Bank of Australia's deputy governor Phil Lowe fuelled the increase.
"The Kiwi-Aussie exchange rate has risen over the past day, mainly due to two factors: firstly, the iron ore price has continued falling, and fell again last night, and it's made a five-year low.
"In addition the RBA deputy governor Lowe spoke at a dinner last night and reminded the market that the Aussie exchange rate is still quite overvalued, relative to fundamentals."
At 5.20pm today, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 91.57 Australian cents, up from 91.1 cents this time yesterday, 78.15 US cents, 49.77 British pence, 0.6268 euro, 92.1 yen and 4.8 renminbi.
Meanwhile, New Zealand shares rose today, with the benchmark Top 50 Index gaining 15 points to 5457.
Shares in Orion Health ended the day at $6.27 compared with the float price of $5.70.
Auckland International Airport shares gained 7 cents to $3.91, while Methven was up 5 cents to $1.24.
Shares in Pumpkin Patch sank 4.5 cents to 25 cents. They peaked at $4.95 in January 2007.
