6 Jun 2014

Dollar, shares both up on Friday

7:08 pm on 6 June 2014

The New Zealand dollar rose more than half a cent on Friday against the US dollar but weakened towards the end of the day.

A senior advisor at Bancorp, Peter Cavanaugh, says the rise was in reaction to the European Central Bank cutting interest rates overnight.

Shortly after 5pm, the kiwi was trading at 84.86 US cents, off the day's high at 85.13 cents.

It was also trading at 90.87 Australian cents, 50.46 British pence, 62.13 euro, 86.8 yen and 5.3 renminbi.

New Zealand shares also ended the week on a strong note, the benchmark Top 50 Index climbing 23 points to 5182.

Fat Prophets head of research Greg Smith says the unprecedented ECB moves and the prospect it may start printing money, known as quantitative easing, have also propelled share markets higher.

Fletcher Building gained 27 cents to $9.19 while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose to a record at $4.71, before closing at $4.68, up 8 cents.

Pacific Edge shares climbed 3 cents to 84 cents but Xero shares fell 39 cents to $29.41.