The kiwi was off 0.3% at $0.6318, after touching its lowest since September 2015 at $0.6311. The latest lurch lower came when ANZ Bank's closely-watched survey of businesses showed deepening weakness in both activity and confidence, suggesting aggressive cuts in interest rates were yet to gain any traction.
"The outlook for the economy appears to be deteriorating further, with firms extremely downbeat despite easier monetary conditions, fairly robust commodity prices, and positive population growth," said Sharon Zollner, ANZ's chief economist.
Markets imply around an 80% chance the RBNZ will have to cut by a further quarter point to 0.75% in November, and will eventually reach 0.5% sometime next year. Yields on two-year notes are already down at 0.80%, having dived 40 basis points since mid-July.
Investors are pricing in similar easings from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), with a quarter-point cut to 0.75% fully priced in by November and 0.5% by March.
Data out Thursday showed business investment dipped a soft 0.5% in the June quarter, but a 2.5% jump in spending on equipment still promised to make a useful contribution to economic growth.