WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--The New Zealand dollar was trading lower late Thursday following news the International Monetary Fund plans to sell 191.3 metric tons of gold. The IMF said it will likely sell the gold on the open market, pushing spot prices and shares of gold miners lower. "It's starting to spook people a little bit that commodities are susceptible to a little bit of downside," said BNZ FX strategist Mike Jones. Jones added that the Kiwi had drifted lower during the day, following on where offshore markets had left off. He said overnight the focus would be on comments from speeches by U.S. Federal Reserve officials. "I can't see this trend we've got for a high U.S. dollar stalling anytime soon. So I think the pressure is going to stay on the NZ dollar for a day or so," Jones said. But he said he expects "these fears over the global economy and the European situation will eventually ease." A local bond trader said Thursday's government bond auction was met with reasonable demand especially for the November 2011 bonds. "It was eight times oversubscribed," he said, adding the April 2015 bonds were four times oversubscribed. November 2011 bonds were trading at 3.81% prior to the auction but sold at 3.80%, he added. While the November 2011 bond yields closed down one basis point at 3.80%, the December 2017 bond yields rose, following Australia's lead. Interest swap rates fell slightly but continued to trade in a very tight range, he added. -Lucy Craymer, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; lucy.craymer@dowjones.com

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