Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The New Zealand dollar maintained earlier gains after the statistics agency said home-building approvals jumped 13 percent in July from a month earlier.

The so-called kiwi traded at 84.79 U.S. cents as of 10:47 a.m. in Wellington from 84.78 cents before the data and 84.61 cents yesterday in New York. It touched 84.81 cents, the highest since Aug. 4.

To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benjamin Purvis at bpurvis@bloomberg.net