New Zealand’s dollar touched the weakest level in 18 years against its Australian counterpart as the smaller nation’s prime minister reiterated his support for a cut in the benchmark interest rate. The kiwi, the currency’s nickname, hovered near a five- month low against the greenback as New Zealand’s government said it may need to borrow more after the deadliest earthquake in 80 years caused as much as NZ$15 billion ($11 billion) of damage. Australia’s dollar fell versus the greenback as U.S. stocks fell. “The market consensus is for a rate cut this week, as reflected in the prime minister’s comments,” said Toshiya Yamauchi, a senior currency analyst in Tokyo at Ueda Harlow Ltd., which provides margin-trading services. “The impact from the earthquake will continue to weigh on the New Zealand economy. So investors are more likely to choose the Aussie over the kiwi when they compare these two commodity currencies.” The New Zealand dollar fell 0.3 percent to 73.63 U.S. cents as of 1:16 p.m. in New York, from 73.83 last week, when it reached 73.39 cents, the lowest since Oct. 1. The kiwi rose 0.1 percent to NZ$1.3720 per Australian dollar from NZ$1.3735 on March 4. It earlier touched NZ$1.3796, the weakest level since June 1992. Australia’s currency fell 0.3 percent to $ 1.0106 from $1.0138 and fell 0.5 percent to 83.06 yen from 83.46 yen. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said in an interview with Television New Zealand today that lower borrowing costs would be helpful to the country. Key said last week he would “welcome” a reduction in interest rates. The central bank’s next policy meeting March 10. Quake Costs New Zealand’s Treasury Department said costs from the Feb. 22 quake that wrecked the central business district of Christchurch may triple the estimated NZ$5 billion bill from a temblor that hit the city in September. The expense will be shared between the government, insurers and businesses, Finance Minister Bill English said yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.2 percent. Losses in the Australian dollar were tempered as jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet advanced 1.2 percent in February from January, when they increased a revised 3 percent, according to Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. To contact the reporter on this story: Monami Yui in Tokyo at myui1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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