The New Zealand dollar is currently just over 73c, the highest it's been in 14 months.

Forsyth Barr Investment Adviser, Haley Paterson, says today's rise was helped by positive data coming out of the US, and encouraged investors to seek riskier investments offshore such as in New Zealand and Australia countries well known for their strong commodity based economies.

According to Paterson, a higher New Zealand dollar will
most likely encourage the Reserve Bank to keep the OCR at current levels, meaning short term mortgage rates will stay lower for longer.

However, Paterson says a higher New Zealand dollar is fairly damaging for our local exporters.