The New Zealand dollar advanced today as the rally of stocks and commodities increased attractiveness of the currency to investors that look for higher-yielding assets.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares rose 0.3 percent today, while the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials gained 1.5 percent yesterday. The report of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research showed that the business confidence index rose to 27 in the second quarter of this year from -27 in the first quarter. The report tomorrow is expected to show that the gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2011, following the increase by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

NZD/USD traded at 0.8264 today as of 14:20 GMT after advancing from 0.8249 to 0.8300. EUR/NZD tumbled from 1.7466 to 1.7283.

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