Millions in bonds offered by Transpower New Zealand in an attempt to raise $3 billion in debt.

HSBC drop four-year fixed home loan rates by 25 basis points.

Kiwibank has the second lowest mortgage rate in the market today after dropping its floating mortgage interest rate to 5.65%.

The 14 basis point cut makes Kiwibank the first bank to cut its variable rate this year, although fixed mortgages have been on the rise over the past few weeks.

Kiwibank’s new variable rate is only beaten by BNZ’s 5.59% on its Total Money mortgages, which has remained the lowest since BNZ cut 26 basis points in September to take the lead.

BNZ has jumped ahead of the pack as the jostling for the market lead in floating mortgages continues to intensify.

The bank has cut its TotalMoney variable mortgage rate by 26 basis points to 5.59%, undercutting Westpac, which was previously the market leader in a rein that lasted only three days.

Westpac announced on Monday that it was offering a variable rate of 5.69%, only a week after ASB dropped its own rate to a 40-year low of 5.75%.

Westpac has joined the rate-cutting party, dropping fixed and floating rates in anticipation of a cut in the Official Cash Rate.

Six-month fixed loans will drop to 5.79% interest on February 23, while floating rates will drop to 6.49% from February 26.

This follows an announcement earlier today Kiwibank will cut its floating mortgage rate to 5.99%, the lowest floating mortgage rate at a New Zealand bank in more than 40 years.

Reserve Bank figures show this is the lowest floating mortgage rate since August 1965.