Wellington, July 5 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar fell against major currencies as global growth worries continued.

Around 8am today the kiwi was buying US68.84c against the greenback, down from US69.40c at 5pm on Friday, even as the US dollar extended steep losses against the euro on concerns about economic recovery in the United States after disappointing US jobs data.

"There is a very good chance that US fundamentals are finally catching up with the (US) dollar," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT in New York.

"Traders have trashed the euro because of the European fiscal crisis and now they are turning on the US dollar. If this becomes a new trend, we could see steeper losses in the greenback."

The NZ dollar dropped to a one-month low against the European currency around 0.5470 early Saturday, and by today's local open was at 0.5482, down from 0.5546 at 5pm on Friday.

The kiwi also dropped to 60.39 yen at 8am today from 61.01 at Friday's local close, and against the Australian dollar it peaked at a nine-month high above A82.40c early Saturday but then fell away to A81.75c at 8am today, slightly lower than at 5pm on Friday.

Last week the Australian Government and major mining companies agreed to a watered down mining tax, easing concerns the tax would hurt business investment.

The trade weighted index fell to 65.91 at 8am today from 66.49 at 5pm on Friday.