Reserve Bank holds OCR at 1.75 per cent

The Reserve Bank has kept the official cash rate on hold at 1.75 per cent. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler kept the official cash rate at 1.75 per cent and will look through a recent pick-up in inflation which is seen as being a temporary spike in the tradables sector while complaining about the currency's strength over the past month. The kiwi gained.

"The increase in headline inflation in the March quarter was mainly due to higher tradables inflation, particularly petrol and food prices," Wheeler said in a statement. "These effects are temporary and may lead to some variability in headline inflation."

The central bank surprised some in the market last month when it reaffirmed its neutral bias, with inflation expectations appearing well-anchored and slower than anticipated economic growth meaning capacity hadn't been as stretched as policymakers feared. A rate hike isn't fully priced in until March 2020.

Wheeler again said long-term inflation expectations were anchored around 2 percent and that while non-tradable and wage inflation is "moderate", both are expected to "increase gradually". He affirmed that monetary policy will stay "accommodative for a considerable period", but may need to be adjusted as "numerous uncertainties remain".

Wheeler tried to talk down the currency, with the trade-weighted index trading about 2.6 per cent higher than the central bank's projected average for the June quarter, saying it had advanced 3 percent since May, partly due to rising export prices. Government figures this month showed the country's terms of trade are at a 44-year high.

"A lower New Zealand dollar would help rebalance the growth outlook towards the tradables sector," Wheeler said.

The New Zealand dollar rallied by about half a US cent when it became clear to the market that the statement was not as "dovish" -- or less likely to take aggressvie action on infation - as many had expected. The bank's mention of the budget, and its likely stimulatory effects, was also given as a reason to buy kiwi dollars, alongside its comment on the the positive growth outlook for GDP growth.

"The market expected no change in the rate - which is what they got - but they were braced for the possibility of a dovish surprise," Westpac senior markets strategist Imre Speizer said. The budget and growth comments were seen as additional reasons to buy kiwi, he said.

The New Zealand dollar quickly kicked up by half a US cent to US72.77c in the minutes following the announcement, before settling back at US72.54.

Government data last week showed New Zealand's economy grew 0.5 percent in the first three months of the year, short of the central bank's forecast expansion of 0.9 percent, reinforcing the view among economists that Wheeler would be able to keep his neutral bias.

Wheeler said economic expansion was slower than anticipated due to weaker export volumes and residential building work, but that the growth outlook was still positive, "supported by accommodative monetary policy, strong population growth, and high terms of trade" and also recent government initiatives announced in last month's budget.

House price inflation was seen slowing down, in part due to the loan-to-value lending restrictions, and Wheeler said that moderation is expected to continue, although there was a risk of a resurgence in the protracted imbalance between supply and demand.