The New Zealand dollar rose on a day in which the Australian dollar got a lift from strong employment data and equity markets rallied.
It was also a day in which investors were slightly less worried about the European financial story.
The NZ dollar was at US71.70c at 5pm from US71.29c at 8am and US71.08c at 5pm yesterday. It had risen as high as US71.98c on Wednesday night before retreating.
The local currency turned higher again in its domestic session when the Australian dollar rose on news the Australian economy added 33,700 jobs in April.
"Full-time numbers were above market expectations so it pushed everything higher in our session," said Murray Hindley, chief foreign exchange dealer at ANZ.
He said the focus was turning to retail sales data due in New Zealand tomorrow.
Panic selling of the euro has halted but the plight of the euro remains a focus of investors.
Asian sharemarkets rallied after the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1.4 percent, after Spain released a plan to cut its budget deficit, and after economic reports from the US and Europe provided comfort that the global recovery is intact.
The NZ dollar was at A79.67c at 5pm today, from A79.95c at 5pm yesterday.
It rose to 0.5664 euro from 0.5635, lifted to 66.82 yen from 65.77 and was also up against the British pound, to 48.27p from 47.80p.
The trade weighted index rose to 68.30 from 67.84.
