Wellington, March 6 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar gave up some of the previous day's gains against the greenback as the mood among investors switched back to one of widespread risk aversion.

Around 8am the kiwi was buying US49.95c, having trended down from the US50.75c area about 9am yesterday.

The US dollar also rose against the euro and sterling as central banks in Britain and the euro zone cut borrowing costs.

The greenback fell against the yen, as traders took profits after the US currency's earlier rise. Worries about Japan's economy, which contracted sharply in the fourth quarter as exports plummeted, were expected to limit yen gains.

Around today's local open, the NZ dollar was at 0.3978 euro, barely changed from the rate at 5pm yesterday.

The kiwi slipped against the Japanese currency to 49.18 yen at 8am from 49.85 at the local close. It edged up against the Australian dollar to A78.19c from A78.05c.

The trade weighted index was 51.74 at 8am from 51.91 at 5pm.

ANZ bank said the NZ dollar had a tough day yesterday as poor Australian data again ensured that topside resistance was left untested.

Early morning warning sings on US equity movements had the kiwi close to overnight lows.

In Britain, along with cutting interest rates to a new record low of 0.5 percent, the Bank of England pledged to go on a STG75 billion ($NZ215 billion) bond-buying shopping spree.

British government bonds soared on the news the BoE would be starting so-called quantitative easing -- effectively printing money -- on such an aggressive scale over the next three months.

The NZ dollar was buying 35.39p at 8am, little changed from the level at 5pm.

NZPA WGT Reuters mjd kn