New Zealand’s second quarter [B]Manufacturing Activity[/B] report showed that sales fell -4.8%, the most on record, while the outcome for the first three months of the year was revised down to reflect a -1.3% drop from the -0.9% result that was originally reported. The reading reinforces last week’s comments from Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard, who said the stronger currency puts business profits “under pressure” and warned that “If the exchange rate were to continue its recent appreciation…the sustainability of the present recovery will be brought into question.” The New Zealand Dollar has appreciated 27.3% in trade-weighted terms to date since hitting a record low in January as a broad rebound in risk appetite drove demand for the high-yield currency.