The New Zealand dollar has jumped to a fresh five-year high against the Australian dollar.
Westpac currency strategist Imre Speizer says comments from central banks on both sides of the Tasman propelled the Kiwi higher on Friday, to 92.50 Australian cents.
"Firstly, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand signalled that they will hike in March, instead of April ... that pushed interest rates higher, and the Kiwi dollar higher in turn.
"Secondly, the Reserve Bank of Australia's Governor Glenn Stevens, said he would prefer the Aussie to be much lower against the US dollar, and that hurt the Aussie - so you had two events both moving the Kiwi higher against the Aussie".
At the close of the local business week, the Kiwi was trading at 91.94 Australian cents.
By contrast, it was a third of a cent weaker at 82.28 US cents, slightly weaker at 50.31 British pence and point-5982 euro but up more than half a yen at 85.38 yen.
The sharemarket struggled all day but managed to finished slightly higher, the benchmark Top 50 Index gaining 9 points to 4717.
The head of equities at Tyndall Asset Management, Rickey Ward, says another fund manager's statement that it was buying Chorus shares pushed up the price of that stock.
"Most people you would speak to would say that the company appears undervalued at face value, but it's not without an awful lot of risks," says Mr Ward.
He says that a more important feature of Friday's trading was that some stocks which had been heavily sold appeared to have found some support in the market.
"Whether that's a false dawn, I'm not sure," Mr Ward says.
"Fletcher Building and Z (Energy) are clear examples of stocks that are owned by internationals, and which haven't fallen but remained flat in a market which was down."
Z Energy shares gained 2 cents to $3.49 while Fletcher Building shares climbed 4 cents to $8.77.
But shares in the Hallenstein Glasson clothing retailer were likely to have few supporters in light of the gloomy comments from that company's annual meeting - its shares fell 24 cents to $3.46.
Chorus shares rose as high as $1.53 before closing at $1.47, up 10 cents.
