Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There was one change today, but we are expecting a 'major announcement' later this afternoon. TSB Bank has reduced a range of standard rates, but none are market leading.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
ANZ cut their 1 - 5 year term deposit rates from -10 to -25 bps. Their five year rate is now 4.75%, the lowest of any bank for this term.
BEST EVER
The RBNZ monitoring of our banking system's core funding ratio shows little change as at December. Core funding covers 86.3% of total loans and advances. In fact, that is the best it has been since the RBNZ started publishing this metric in April 2010. The worst was 77.8% in July 2010 and it has improved progressively from there.
BNZ Q1 EARNINGS UP
BNZ's parent, National Australia Bank, has reported a 6% rise in unaudited first (December) quarter cash earnings to A$1.65 billion. NAB, led by ex-BNZ CEO Andrew Thorburn, said BNZ's NZ dollar cash earnings rose due to higher revenue from increased loan volumes and lower bad and doubtful debt charges.
LOW BIDS WIN
Today, Treasury's Debt Management Office tendered inflation indexed bonds (also known as 'linkers') with a coupon of 2% due in September 2035. These pay coupon plus the inflation rate. They were reasonable sought after with bids for $207 mln for the $100 mln on offer, and the 21 winners accepted yields that averaged 1.79% over inflation.
DECLINING SATISFACTION
Consumer NZ today released a customer satisfaction survey of 10,700 of their members if internet service providers. It was not kind to either Vodafone or Spark with worsening satisfaction levels. Actrix, Inspire Net and Snap had the highest ratings, and Orcon and Slingshot has the best improvements. UFB/fibre subscribers were the most satisfied.
ANOTHER 2,000
Twelve more Special Housing Areas have been approved in Auckland (4 more), Tauranga City (+7) and the Western Bay of Plenty District (+1), bringing the total to 100 since the Housing Accords legislation was passed 16 months ago. Today added 2,000 more sites to bring the total to 47,000. SHAs mean the process of subdivision and resource consents is reduced from an average of 18 months to a maximum of six months.
WHOLESALE RATES LOWER
After we reported here yesterday that wholesale rates were softer, overnight they zoomed higher, catching up some benchmark rises in New York. But as today has progressed some of those gains have eroded and they are back down again -2 to -4 bps with a flattening bias. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 3.64%. Going the other way, the May 2021 and April 2023 NZ Govt bond yields have put on +8 bps today.
NZ DOLLAR CONSOLIDATES
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar has consolidated today. It is now at 73.7 USc, 94.8 AUc, and the TWI is now at 76.9.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
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