A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; some banks take a big cut of the OCR decrease, drop TD rates; food prices lower; factories humming; swap rates up; NZD up

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
ANZ and Westpac have announced they are passing on only 10 bps of the 25 bps OCR cut. Kiwibank is passing on 20 bps and holding back 5 bps. The Cooperative Bank is passing on the full 25 bps. Kiwibank also cut some fixed rates, the five year one being market-leading at 4.99%. The other banks may be seeking the cover of the weekend to announce their changes. We expect the Aussie-owned ASB and BNZ to be as stingy as Westpac and ANZ and will be pleasantly surprised if we are wrong.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Westpac has most of its term deposit and term PIE rates by between -5 and -15 bps. Kiwibank has cut its Notice Saver PIEs by -25 bps as has Westpac. We are seeing cash management account rates fall by -25 bps also.

PRICE HEAT DIES DOWN
The New Zealand housing market a mixed bag in February with REINZ's sale volumes rising strongly in many regions but there was subdued activity in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton and Queenstown. The median price rose +4% from February in Auckland, but only +0.4% nationally. However, over a full year, the heat has gone right out of pricing growth.

A CHEAPER DEAL
September 2035 Government inflation linked tender sees average weighted yield at 2.20% for todays event. Investor interest picked up as NZ real yields remain attractive. This compares with the previous issue of 2035 linkers of 2.40%.

LOWER FOOD PRICES
Food prices were -0.5% lower than in February 2015. This was influenced by a -1.9% decrease in grocery food prices, driven by lower prices for fresh milk (down -8.8%), breakfast cereals (down -8.8%), and snack foods (down -5.7%). Fruit and vegetable prices decreased -1.4%, mainly due to a -5.3% decrease in vegetable prices. This was partially offset by a +3.3% increase in fruit prices. It is very hard to complain about any of these changes (unless you are a farmer).

NZ FACTORIES STILL HUMMING
New Zealand's manufacturing sector experienced a slower rate of expansion in February, according to the latest BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index. The PMI for February was 56.0 s.a. which is 2 points down from January, although still the third highest level of activity over the last 12 months. The sector has now been in a continuous expansion since October 2012.

RBNZ TO KEEP NZCLEAR
The Reserve Bank has decided to retain its real-time settlement and depository business NZClear, which was put on the block in late 2014. The Reserve Bank say no suitable bids that met service requirements and commercial terms were received. The central bank will now invest in a new platform for NZClear that will be separate from the Exchange Settlement Account System, which the Reserve Bank also owns and is also replacing. Meanwhile, NZX which operates NZ Clearing and Depository Corporation, said it had proposed to the Reserve Bank that it, NZX, operate a single clearing and settlement system for NZ.

MORE IRRIGATION PROPOSALS
The Government is 'investing' another $1.6 mln to develop three new irrigation project ideas. The three irrigation projects are in the Wairarapa ($804,000), Hawke’s Bay ($575,000), and Gisborne ($250,000). This funding will support the development of irrigation proposals to the stage where they are investment ready.

MORE WORKER PROTECTIONS
There is an update of the Employment law that will come into effect on April 1. It provides for extended paid parental leave to cover more workers and increase the flexibility of the scheme, it strengthens the enforcement of employment standards, and it addresses issues such as "zero-hour contracts", which have been been outlawed.

ANOTHER TOP FONTERRA EXEC LEAVES
Fonterra today announced the resignation of Maury Leyland, their "Managing Director of People, Culture and Safety" (and possibly of one the the silliest titles in corporate NZ), and member of Fonterra’s senior management team. Ms Leyland has resigned "for personal reasons".

WHOLESALE RATES BOUNCE
These markets recorded a small bounce off of the sharp lows we saw yesterday. They are up +1 to +4 bps across the curve in a steepening bias. NZ swap rates are here. The 90-day bank bill rate also rose but only by +1 bp to 2.39%.

NZ DOLLAR BOUNCES
Markets bid up the NZ dollar today. It is now at 67 USc, at 89.6 AUc and 59.9 euro cents. The TWI-5 is back up to 70.8 which means the Wheeler effect seems to have lasted less than 36 hours. Check our real-time charts here.

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