(Adds details on inflation, earthquake, currency reaction)
WELLINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - New Zealand's central bank said on Thursday that interest rates were likely to remain steady for some time, though there were signs that super-easy policies globally were finally turning the corner.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) governor Graeme Wheeler said in a speech published on the bank's website that its official cash rate projections were still "highly conditional" on assumptions around the exchange rate, migration and house price inflation.
The central bank cut its main rate in November to a record low of 1.75 percent in an attempt to boost tepid inflation and signalled that it would not be reducing it further.
The bank said the low point for CPI inflation had probably past and, helped by the improvement in global commodity prices, the bank expected December data to show that annual inflation was back within its target range of 1 to 3 percent.
Wheeler noted the bank's stimulus efforts had been hampered by the extreme policy easings seen across the developed world, which had kept the New Zealand dollar uncomfortably high.
"This has put downward pressure on our interest rate structure and contributed to asset price inflation and upward pressure on the New Zealand dollar," he said. "This trend may finally be turning."
He noted the local currency had fallen in recent weeks as expectations of rate rise from the Federal Reserve lifted the U.S. dollar. Yet the kiwi's trade weighted index was still above where it was in mid-2015 despite seven rate cuts and a drop in the country's terms of trade.
The recent powerful earthquake in Kaikoura was expected to deliver a burst in construction activity and add to costs in the sector, but had not changed the outlook for steady policy, Wheeler said.
The New Zealand dollar's NZD=D4 reaction was muted, rising around 10 ticks to $0.7161 in the wake of the speech.