Australia, New Zealand Dollars Slide on Global Recession Fears

By Candice Zachariahs

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian dollar slid against the yen and the U.S. currency as concern about a global recession prompted investors to dump higher-risk assets. New Zealand's dollar also fell against the yen.

The Australian currency traded near record lows against the yen touched on Oct. 24 late in New York as prices fell for commodities the nations export. Australia's dollar plunged 20 percent against the yen the past week and New Zealand's dropped 18.5 percent as investors bought back Japanese currency borrowed in so-called carry trades and used to buy high-yielding assets in the South Pacific nations.

``Investor confidence is shot to ribbons and it's the carry trades that are copping it fair and square in the face,'' said Paul Milton, chief foreign-exchange dealer at Societe Generale SA in Sydney. ``We're approaching levels where we should start finding some natural support in the Aussie. However, it's a brave man who buys Aussie in this environment,'' he said referring to the currency by its nickname.

The Australian dollar fell 1.4 percent to 57.85 yen as of 8:06 a.m. in Sydney from 58.68 yen in New York on Oct. 24, when it had touched 55.14 yen, the weakest since the Australian currency started trading freely. The currency slid 0.5 percent to 61.92 U.S. cents from 62.23 cents in New York last week, when it touched the lowest since April 2003.

New Zealand's dollar dropped 0.8 percent to 52.07 yen from 52.48 late last week in New York. The currency gained 0.2 percent to 55.80 U.S. cents from 55.67 cents.

The Australian dollar had tumbled 34.4 percent against the yen and 25.5 percent versus the greenback over the past month as investors have dumped equities amid widespread concern that the global economy will fall into recession. New Zealand's currency has fallen 29.3 percent and 18.7 percent against the yen and dollar, respectively.

The VIX volatility index, a gauge reflecting expectations for stock-market price changes and risk aversion, reached a record of 79.13 on Friday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net