A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; Kiwibank cuts, Auckland raises, surprise trade surplus, affordability stresses varied, UFB rolls on, swap rates and NZD unchanged

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no rate changes today, at least so far.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank reduced some savings account rates today. Their 32 day Notice Saver has been reduce by -0.25 bps to 3.55%. And their online Call bonus saver account has had a detailed tweak. The base rate has been reduced by -0.40% to 2.00% while their bonus has been raised by +0.25% to 1.00%. That leaves the potential rate lower by -0.15 bp.

COUNCILLORS EXPECT BACKLASH
Auckland Council is in a firestorm over the rate impact of the Mayor's new 10 year Plan. The amounts involved are not small and will affect about 450,000 residential ratepayers in various ways. 2% will pay $1,000+ per year more, 23% will get a decrease, two thirds will pay up to $500 more, and 7.5% will pay between $500 and $1000 more per year. Expect to hear from those 40,000 who will pay more than $500.

A SURPRISE SURPLUS
A surprise trade surplus of $350 mln was recorded for May. Markets expected a $100 deficit. This was mainly on falling oil and capital imports; exports were no worse than expected. BNZ said today’s trade data were clearly a net positive for the nation’s current account. "Plugging May’s numbers in, we are homing in on a current account deficit estimate for the year to June 2015 of $8.8b, or 3.7% of GDP. This would compare to the 3.6% result reported for the year to March 2015. Such a result should dampen concerns that the current account deficit is set to gallop toward 7% of GDP, as per the latest RBNZ forecasts. Indeed, the Bank talked this up as a reason why the currency has to keep falling."

AFFORDABLE/UNAFFORDABLE
The lower quartile house price surged to $616,500 in Auckland last month but declined in many regions. That means that affordability for first home buyers is getting worse in the Queen City quickly. And it is making may other regions around the country looking very attractive by comparison.

OLDFASHIONED WHOLESALING CHANGING
Foodstuffs has confirmed that it will close its Gilmours wholesalers in Henderson, Panmure and Rotorua as well as its Toops wholesalers in New Plymouth and Napier, according to First Union.

HEARTLAND 'NOT CURRENTLY' KICKING F&P FINANCE'S TYRES
Heartland NZ, parent of Heartland Bank, says it's not currently participating in any process to acquire the on-the-block Fisher & Paykel Finance. Heartland says, however, it'll continue to investigate potential acquisition opportunities that meet its strategic objectives, as well as assessing possible capital management options to improve return on equity. It also reiterated that June year net profit after tax will be at the upper end of its $46 million to $48 million forecast range.

100,000TH UFB CONNECTION
This happened today in Christchurch. The UFB build is now complete in 11 towns and cities, while more than 2,200 schools have fibre installed and ready for service. The first stage of the UFB program will enable at least 75% of New Zealanders to access fibre to the premise by 2019. 

NEW ASB DIRECTOR
ASB says Vittoria Shortt, who is group executive for marketing and strategy at its parent Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has joined its board as a director. Shortt is a New Zealander who has also worked for Deloitte and Carter Holt Harvey.

WHOLESALE RATES UNCHANGED
Swap rates were unchanged for terms to 5 years today and down -1 bp for each term 5, 7 and 10 years. The 90 day bank bill rate was also down -2 bps today to 3.24%

NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
The NZ dollar fell on some odd reaction by offshore investors to non-news when the RBNZ released its Statement of Intent. Then it rose when the much better than expected trade data was released. In the end it is essentially unchanged at 68.9 USc, 89.2 AUc, 61.6 euro cents and the TWI is still at 72.7. Check our real-time charts here.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.