Kiwi's rate hold helps NZD

The New Zealand dollar gained sharply against the aussie and sterling yesterday, as the Reserve Bank surprised some investors by keeping interest rates on hold at 2.5 percent.

• The pause in rates was the first since July of last year, and was designed to stimulate the economy which has been in recession since last year.
  
• However, no growth is expected until the end of 2009, so the RBNZ did leave the door open for further cuts after it has assessed the impact of its previous aggressive rate cutting.