Wellington, Jan 20 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar surged to a 22-month high against the euro, as the European currency fell broadly amid souring German investor sentiment and persistent worries about Greece's finances.

Meanwhile, another Chinese move to tighten monetary policy hurt investor risk appetite, which boosted the United States dollar against both the yen and higher-yield currencies.

By 8am the NZ dollar was buying US73.91c, similar to its 5pm level, having dived to around US73.34c early today before recovering.

The kiwi also peaked at 0.5178 euro, according to Reuters data, around 6.30am and by the local open was at 0.5174, having climbed from 0.5128 at 5pm.

The NZ dollar rose to 67.33 yen at 8am from 66.83 at 5pm, and it edged up against the Australian dollar to A79.96c from A79.85c. The trade weighted index rose to 66.95 at 8am from 66.68 at 5pm.

BNZ Capital senior strategist Danica Hampton said solid demand for the NZ dollar crosses had helped the kiwi rebound back towards US74c against the greenback.

ANZ bank said inflation figures today were the first of a number of New Zealand data releases which may see the NZ dollar strengthen against its Australian counterpart.

But it noted that while the focus today may be on the fourth quarter consumers price index, a flurry of Chinese data tomorrow would be more important in the "grand scheme of things".