Dollar drops as Fed reassures, kiwi falls after data

The dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Friday, extending losses made the previous day as investors shifted funds back into risky assets as the Federal Reserve appeared to confirm this week that it will keep interest rates low for a while.
Investor appetite for risk was also helped by the Fed and its counterparts around the world extending their currency swap lines on Thursday until February 2010 so they have U.S. dollars to lend in their markets.
The central banks' announcement came a day after the Fed left interest rates unchanged near zero and said it saw signs the deep recession was easing.
"The market is just relieved to see the Fed is not in that much of a hurry to take (tightening) action," said Takahide Nagasaki, chief FX strategist at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"Almost every market is back to where it was about a week ago before the Fed, in the same way as oil prices are rebounding above $70 a barrel," Nagasaki said.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's performance against six other major currencies, fell 0.3 percent to 80.193, towards a two-week low of 79.562 touched earlier this week before the Fed's policy decision.
The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.4031 and towards a two-week high of $1.4139 hit earlier this week.
Some analysts said a bigger-than-expected amount of one-year funds injected into money markets by the European Central Bank this week also added to risk appetite.
"The operation will likely help stabilise the global financial market, by keeping rates steady for a year and sending a message that the ECB is ready to take action if anything goes wrong," said Tsutomu Soma, a senior manager in the foreign securities department at Okasan Securities.
Still, market players hesitated to chase the euro or other currencies higher without hard economic evidence as they suspect that the rallies in the past few months have got ahead of economic recovery.
Earlier this month the euro climbed above $1.43, its highest since late December, while the Australian dollar leapt above $0.8250 to hit its highest since late September.
Market participants also remained cautious about possible intervention by the Swiss National Bank to weaken its domestic currency against the euro and the dollar.
The SNB repeatedly intervened on Wednesday, according to traders, giving a stark reminder that it is determined to fight deflation risks by preventing a rise in the Swiss franc.
The euro added 0.1 percent to 1.5323 francs, while the dollar fell 0.2 percent to 1.0923 francs.
Japanese consumer prices fell at a record pace in the year to May, adding to other weak signals about the health of the global economy.
The New Zealand dollar fell after news that the country's economy contracted for the fifth quarter in a row in January-March, backing the central bank's view that interest rates will stay at current low levels well into 2010. link...