The kiwi dollar plunged nearly one US cent after today's Christchurch earthquake.

Foreign investors boosted their share of government debt on issue last month to just shy of $28b, as the Crown borrows $300m a week to maintain its spending programme.

New Zealand consumer prices rose 2.3 per cent as expected in the three months ended December 30, mainly reflecting the hike in GST.

Equities in Europe and on Wall Street rallied after Portugal's successful bond sale eased concerns about the euro-zone's debt crisis.

The economy rebounded in the December 2010 quarter, after contracting in September, according to the latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion.

If the good news is that the Reserve Bank expects rates to be lower for longer, the bad news is why it thinks that.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard isn't expected to start hiking interest rates again until the middle of next year after he held the official cash rate at 3 per cent today.

I worry that the banks are trying to unleash those animal spirits in the housing markets again.

The Reserve Bank has left the Official Cash Rate on hold at 3 per cent. In his Monetary Policy Statement, Governor Alan Bollard said the pace of economic growth 'appears to have moderated'.

The financial market now expects the Reserve Bank will not increase the OCR from 3 to 3.25 per cent until June next year.