A surging Japanese yen has hit the New Zealand dollar.
The kiwi fell more than 3% on Tuesday night to a five-month low of 74.82 yen. By midday on Wednesday, it was down around 14% since a peak in mid-April.
Dealers say Asia currencies experienced massive volatility with heavy investor flows out of emerging markets.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the yen jumped across all currencies after the Bank of Japan held off taking new stimulus measures.
"We are seeing a few signs of life come into the Japanese economy at the moment, perhaps in part because of some of the measures that have been taken, but longer term we really do need to see a lot more structural reform happen in Japan as well, to get their economy moving along on a sustained basis."
He said the high dollar against the yen has been a double edged sword as Japanese imports have fallen in the last six months, but exporters to Japan have faced major challenges.
