The New Zealand dollar advanced today, trading near the record high against the US dollar, as growth of China’s economy made higher-yielding currencies more appealing.

China’s gross domestic product rose 9.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Industrial output grew 15.1 percent in June, following the increase by 16.9 percent in May. Retail sales edged up 17.7 percent in June after rising 16.9 percent in May.

The MSCI World Index of stocks gained 1.5 percent. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials rose as much as 1.5 percent. The positive news allowed the New Zealand currency to post the first gain against the greenback this week.

NZD/USD jumped from 0.8178 to 0.8364 as of 18:21 GMT today and reached earlier the all-time high of 0.8383. EUR/NZD dropped from 1.7081 to 1.6895, while NZD/JPY went up from 64.69 to 66.03.

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