The New Zealand dollar held near a six-month low on Friday amid talk that New Zealand's sovereign credit rating may be downgraded.
The kiwi rose to 78 US cents at 5pm on Friday, from 77.50 cents at 8am, down from 79.10 cents on Thursday.
Traders said there was talk that New Zealand's credit rating might be downgraded after Thursday's figures showed the economy grew just 0.1 per cent in the quarter ended June 30, well short of market expectations.
Standard Poor's kept New Zealand's AA+ rating unchanged after the government's budget in May, though the rating is still on negative outlook.
Speculation of a rating downgrade might just be rumours but: "You can see where they're coming from," said Tim Kelleher, head of FX sales NZ at ASB Institutional.
If stock markets kept falling, he said, "You can expect the kiwi will head down to 76/77 US cents."
The European Central Bank added to the downbeat tone by saying it would consider cutting interest rates next month if things did not improve.
The kiwi fell to 69.40 on the trade-weighted index from 70.07 on Thursday, and rose to 79.69 Australian cents from 79.37 cents.
It fell to 59.55 Japanese yen from 60.45 yen, to 57.73 euro cents from 58.47 and to 0.67 pence from 51.15 pence.
