Wellington, Jan 8 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar fell away against the greenback from a three-week high above US60.30c reached early today.

By 5pm the kiwi was buying US58.53c, after heading steadily down during the day from the peak about 2.30am.

Despite worsening jobs data in the United States overnight, the US dollar rose against the euro as some traders thought the greenback's slide the previous day was too sharp.

Commodity-related currencies came under pressure after crude oil's biggest single-day percentage decline in more than seven years overnight.

The Australian dollar fell 0.8 percent against the greenback after hitting a three-month high this week.

The kiwi slipped against the Australian currency for much of the day, managing only a half-hearted recovery after weak home building data came out across the Tasman. By 5pm the kiwi was buying A83c from A83.23c at 8am today.

Against the euro, the NZ dollar fell from a near two-month high around 0.4445 yesterday afternoon to 0.4307 by today's local close.

The NZ dollar was also in retreat against the yen, dropping from around 56.25 yen yesterday afternoon to 54.29 by 5pm. The trade weighted index was 57.37 at 5pm from 57.98 at today's local open.

NZPA WGT Reuters mjd nb