The New Zealand Dollar slid overnight after comments on the state of the economy by Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard were published overnight.
New Zealand's economy will be flat in the second quarter before picking up later in the year, Dr Bollard said.
In an interview with specialist publication Central Bank News, he said an economic contraction in the first quarter was disappointing, but quarterly figures were volatile.
From around US76.10c, the NZ dollar fell quickly to around US75.55c, and by 8am had recovered slightly to be buying US75.65c.
The ANZ bank said Dr Bollard's comments had thwarted an attempted recovery by the NZ dollar overnight, with support levels easily broken.
It expected the comments, and rising risk aversion, to continue to weigh negatively on the NZ dollar today.
The greenback fell against the EURO and was little changed against the yen in a volatile session as investors debated the outlook for the US economy while anticipating a rate hike from the European Central Bank later this week.
The NZ dollar eased against both the euro and the yen, with the kiwi returning to recent two-year lows against the European currency around 0.4780 euro.
By 8am the NZ dollar was buying 0.4793 euros, from 0.4828 at 4.30pm yesterday. Against the yen it slipped to 80.28 by 8am from 80.71.
The NZ dollar did spike to a week-high against its Australian counterpart around A79.80c, from A79.42c at 4.30pm, but by 8am was down to A79.39c. The trade weighted index was down to 67.32 by 8am from 67.66.