The Australian dollar fell from a two-week high against its U.S. counterpart as Asian stocks declined, curbing demand for higher-yielding assets. Australia’s currency depreciated against the yen after oil and copper prices dropped, hurting the outlook for the nation’s commodity exports. New Zealand’s dollar, known as the kiwi, slipped from its highest level in more than a week versus the greenback, halting a five-day advance. “From mixed risk sentiment overnight, we have seen some softness in the Asian markets,” said John Horner, a currency strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in Sydney. “That seems to be weighing a little bit on Aussie and kiwi.” The Australian currency slid to $1.0477 at 2:50 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0550 in New York yesterday, when it reached $1.0602, its highest level since Aug. 4. The currency dropped to 80.32 yen from 80.82 yen. New Zealand’s dollar fell to 83.19 U.S. cents from 83.74 cents yesterday, when it touched 84.26 cents, its strongest since Aug. 8. It declined to 63.78 yen from 64.14 yen. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares slumped 1.4 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.1 percent yesterday, while 237 stocks advanced and 255 fell. Crude oil dropped as much as 0.6 percent in afterhours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and copper on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.9 percent. Asahi Bid Declines in the kiwi were limited after Tokyo-based Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. announced it would purchase New Zealand beverage maker Independent Liquor Ltd. “We saw Japanese buying of kiwi supposedly for this Asahi purchase of Independent Liquor,” said Tim Kelleher, Auckland- based head of institutional foreign-exchange sales at ASB Institutional. Asahi said in a statement today it agreed to buy Independent Liquor for NZ$1.53 billion ($1.27 billion) in its biggest-ever acquisition. The company said it expects to complete the transaction by the end of next month. The New Zealand dollar has declined 3.1 percent in the past month, the second-worst performer among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. Australia’s currency, the third-worst, has depreciated 2.8 percent. Australia’s benchmark 10-year yield declined 11 basis points to 4.38 percent, its lowest since March 2009 based on closing values. Yields on its three-year debt fell to 3.67 percent from 3.77 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Kristine Aquino in Singapore at kaquino1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net.

Source