In New Zealand ANZ National Bank saw out the month and the first quarter with a NZ$250 million retail bond issue. The five-year bonds were priced at 135 basis points over swap to yield 6.6 per cent per annum.The New Zealand market has not got off to a strong start, with only NZ$1.7 billion of bonds being issued in the first quarter of 2010. This compares with NZ$2.9 billion for the same period last year. This year New Zealand issuers have focused on international bond issuance, with the equivalent of NZ$5.9 billion being raised. The total for the same period last year was NZ$1.7 billion, all of it being raised in March. With the exception of the HK$400 million, ten-year bond issue by Transpower Finance Ltd., all of the international bond issuance in the first quarter came from the big four banks.