In a speech to a Hawke’s Bay business audience today Bollard said New Zealand’s economy was likely to “start recovery ahead of the pack” from the global upheavals of the past year.

New Zealand Retail sales data for May was much stronger than expected but economists argued that electronic card transaction data for June suggests retail sales will be weak in June.

“These days the electronic card transactions report is our preferred timely indicator of household spending,” said Darren Gibbs at Deutsche Bank. The retail sales data had limited impact on markets.Consumer Price Index data due on Thursday and business surveys this week in Australia.

Westpac said the NZ dollar has been locked in a range since June 3 and the range has been narrowing.

Not much has been happening to make me want to add anything to the portfolio lately however if the dollar does start to dip below the breakout as suggested and weaker data in the retail sector is confirmed I would suggest some bargains will again start to appear which will be added to the portfolio.