Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand’s dollar dropped for a seventh day against Australia’s, the longest losing streak in 18 months, after industry reports showed the confidence of consumers and businesses in the smaller nation waned. The so-called kiwi touched a 10-year low against the Aussie after the Reserve Bank of Australia said in its quarterly bulletin that utility prices are likely to keep rising, underscoring forecasts that inflation will quicken. The two currencies maintained yesterday’s losses against the greenback on speculation Europe’s debt crisis will worsen, damping demand for higher-yielding assets. “You get the sense that the commodity boom we’re seeing is just missing New Zealand,” said Robert Rennie, currency- research head in Sydney at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s second-largest lender. “Softer confidence and disappointing data we’ve seen out of New Zealand is the manifestation of that.” The decline in the kiwi is likely to continue, he said. New Zealand’s dollar fell to NZ$1.3355 versus Australia’s as of 5:29 p.m. in Sydney from NZ$1.3339 in New York yesterday, after declining to NZ$1.3363, the weakest since October 2000. The currency was at 73.93 U.S. cents from 73.97 cents, and traded at 62.29 yen from 62.30 yen. The Australian dollar was at 98.72 cents from 98.70 cents, and bought 83.19 yen from 83.15 yen. Household Sentiment New Zealand’s household sentiment index fell to 108.3 in the fourth quarter, the lowest since the second quarter of 2009, Westpac and McDermott Miller Ltd. said in a report today. A net 34.5 percent of companies expect sales and profits to rise over the next 12 months, down from 35.3 percent in November, a survey by ANZ National Bank Ltd. released today showed. New Zealand’s dollar has depreciated 4.1 percent in the past month in a measure of 10 developed-nation currencies, the worst performer of the group, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes. The Australian dollar has strengthened 1.1 percent. Australian utility prices are poised to keep increasing for years to come, the central bank said in its report released today on its website. “Large increases in the prices of utilities have been a notable feature of consumer-price inflation in Australia in recent years, and further large increases are anticipated over the next few years,” according to the report. Europe Concern Demand for Australian and New Zealand dollars was limited on speculation divisions among European Union members will impede agreement on a plan to limit future debt shocks as leaders gather for a summit starting today in Brussels. Moody’s Investors Services said yesterday it had placed Spain’s credit rating on review for a possible downgrade. Spain has to raise 170 billion euros ($225 billion) next year, while refinancing needs for its regions total 30 billion euros and for banks around 90 billion euros, Moody’s estimated. “Risk sentiment cooled down suddenly as markets shifted focus to Europe’s debt crisis again,” said Toshihiko Sakai, trading head for currencies and financial products in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s largest financial group by market value. “Rallies in commodity-related currencies may see a correction.” The decline in the New Zealand dollar was tempered after Auckland-based Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest dairy exporter, said whole milk powder auction prices rose to a three-month high. Dairy is New Zealand’s biggest export earner, accounting for 23 percent of its trade receipts in the year ended March 31. --Editors: Nicholas Reynolds, Rocky Swift To contact the reporter on this story: Monami Yui in Tokyo at myui1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net.

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