The Reserve Bank again intervened in the foreign exchange market last month, selling a net $472 million in New Zealand dollars as the currency reached fresh post-float highs against the weakening US dollar.
The data do not give a direct and complete indication of the amount spent on
intervention and include liabilities of the Government's Debt Management Office.
Nevertheless, last month's figure is the largest since July last year when it sold $1.49 billion.
When the bank first exercised its powers to intervene on foreign exchange markets to influence the level of the currency in June last year, it said was trying to limit the kiwi's rise, not defend a particular level.
"It sends a signal that, in the bank's view, the exchange rate is out of alignment with the economic fundamentals," deputy governor Grant Spencer said.
The Reserve Bank has not commented on its specific intervention activities since then.
Westpac currency strategist Michael Gordon said the intervention appeared to be consistent with the bank's stated intention to take a similar approach to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which takes a medium-term view on the Australian dollar and buys or sells accordingly.
He said the Reserve Bank had so far been more conservative, "given that the RBA have been in the market selling a few hundred million Aussie dollars month to month regardless of the global financial market turmoil".
Intervention was "something we're likely to see more of", he said.
Although the kiwi hit a fresh post-float high against the greenback of US82.15c on February 27, Gordon pointed out that the trade weighted index had been pretty much in a range since October.
The data showed that the central bank's net short currency position, a figure which it has said better reflects its currency dealings, rose to $2.95 billion from $2.45 billion in January.
