Wellington, Feb 26 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar firmed slightly today after falling to its lowest level in more than two weeks against the greenback and yen overnight.

The NZ dollar dropped to around US68.45c but by 8am was back up to US69.37c by 5pm, above the US68.85c at 5pm yesterday. It traded as high as US69.60c during the domestic session.

"Trade data today was good and building data was weak so it was net nothing," said Imre Speizer, currency strategist at Westpac.

Indicators that US equity markets would be firm on Friday were also seen as a positive during the session.

The NZ dollar is expected to continue reacting to global events with a light economic calendar in this country ahead of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary policy statement on March 11. The Reserve Bank of Australia gives its view on interest rates on Tuesday next week.

Greece's debt concerns continue to overhang the market and be a source of support for the US dollar and yen.

Worries of a sovereign debt default in the euro zone grew after ratings agency Standard and Poor's said it may cut Greece's rating one or two notches within a month.

The NZ dollar was at 61.96 yen at 5pm from 61.64 yen at the same time yesterday.

It was at 0.5106 euro from 0.5108 euro yesterday.

Against the Australian dollar, the NZ dollar hit its lowest level in nearly 10 months around A77.30c shortly before yesterday's local close but was US77.96c by 5pm today.

The trade weighted index was 64.37 from 64.05 yesterday.