News: New Zealand's central bank launches probe into possible leak of rate cut decision

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    WELLINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - The New Zealand central bank said it has launched an external investigation into allegations made by a blogger that its surprise rate cut decision on March 10 was leaked.

    "We are aware of an allegation that information may have been leaked ahead of the OCR announcement on 10 March," a Reserve Bank of New Zealand spokesman told Reuters by phone on Monday.

    He emphasised there was no evidence at this stage that any information was leaked. However, "we take the integrity and security of market-sensitive information very seriously and have initiated an external investigation into the allegation."

    On Monday, stuff.co.nz, owned by Fairfax New Zealand, quoted blogger Michael Reddell as saying he'd been told there was a leak. Reddell was not immediately available for comment.

    The central bank releases its decision at 9:00 local time. Given the New Zealand dollar tends to react strongly to the decision and statement, the information could be highly valuable for currency traders.

    On March 10, however, the dollar did not drop until after the central bank took markets by surprise by cutting the cash rate to a record-low 2.25 percent.

 
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