The New Zealand dollar fell yesterday, down nearly 1% against most of the currencies of major trading partners, as earthquakes continued to rock Canterbury.
The kiwi was trading at US81.32c at 3.25pm, just over an hour after a magnitude 6 aftershock hit Christchurch and after another big shake measuring 5.5 rocked the city's eastern suburbs, crushing buildings and doing major new infrastructural damage.
Against the Australian currency, the dollar was trading at A77.16.
At 5pm, the dollar was trading at US81.39, A77.17 and 56.73.
The NZX-50 was down nearly 23 points for the day at 3476.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said the kiwi was still seen as a risk investment by traders, who were pulling their funds out of the country soon after the shakes.
The dollar had recently hit a post-float high of US83c, helped by reinsurers bring money into the country and forcing up the value of the currency.
Yesterday's damage spelt more unknown costs to the Government and the country's economy, he said.
"People are looking at the risks in the country and wondering how much more money the Government will have to borrow.
"If it is bad enough, overseas investors perceive the Reserve Bank may drop interest rates further, adding to the uncertainty."
However, it was unlikely given current economic conditions, Mr Timms said.
Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard signalled an earlier return to interest rate rises than previously expected in last Thursday's monetary policy statement.
Canterbury was the only region with a rise in job advertisements on employment site Seek in May, and recent retail statistics had indicated Christchurch was starting to recover.
In the rest of the country the number of new jobs advertised on Seek had dipped for the first time this year, while in Canterbury the Seek new job advertisement index increased 1.5%.
Seek New Zealand general manager Janet Faulding said the growth in demand in Canterbury continued to be driven by reconstruction work, with structural engineers among the most in-demand positions in the region.
Canterbury also had a 6.2% rise in May in the Seek employment index, which is the ratio of new job advertisements on Seek to the applications for those positions.
That showed the number of new jobs in Canterbury was rising faster than the number of applications, Ms Faulding said.
