The Australian dollar was strong near a record high against a beleaguered euro on Friday as worries about Greece's fiscal problems kept the common currency under pressure. The euro struggled at A$1.4769, a whisker from a record low of A$1.4759 hit offshore on Thursday, hurt by concerns that ongoing tension among euro zone nations on how to help Greece would render any form of aid difficult.
Yet, dealers said few investors were actively buying the Australian dollar against the euro. They said most of the euro's weakness against the Aussie was a result of its fall against the US dollar. Instead, traders said they were happy to just sit tight on their investments in the Australian dollar given its bright outlook based on expectations of more domestic interest rate rises.
"The Aussie has had a very good run so it would be consolidating at these levels," said Joseph Capurso, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank. Against the US dollar, the Aussie was firm at $0.9216, little changed from late Thursday, but up 0.5 percent from last Friday's $0.9152. It fared less well on the New Zealand dollar, however, slumping to NZ$1.2896, taking total losses since it hit a near decade high of NZ$1.3122 to 1.7 percent.