NZD/USD hits fresh 20-month high as RBNZ's Orr offers positive take on the economy
|- NZD/USD adds 10 pips to hit a new 20-month high of 0.6870.
- RBNZ's Orr says the economy has been more resilient than expected.
- The central bank kept interest rates unchanged and boosted the bond-buying program early Wednesday.
The already bid NZD/USD is extending gains following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) governor Orr's positive comments on the state of the economy.
"The economic activity domestically and internationally has been more resilient than earlier assumed," Orr said during the post-rate decision press conference while taking note of the below-target inflation and employment.
The NZD/USD pair jumped from 0.6860 to 0.6870, the new session high, following Orr's comments, having rallied from 0.6815 to 0.6868 early today.
The pair picked up a bid below 0.6820 after the central bank kept the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 0.25%. The RBNZ boosted its large scale asset purchase program by NZD 100 billion and marked readiness to cut the rates to negative while announcing the launch of the Funding for Lending Program (FLP), which offers funds directly to the banks at a rate near the OCR in December. The additional easing, however, failed to entice sellers.
The Kiwi has put in a solid performance off late on the back of New Zealand's relative success in controlling the second wave of the coronavirus. Besides, markets are increasingly worried that the rising number of cases in the US may force some states to reimpose lockdown. Major European nations like Germany and France have already announced the economically-painful lockdown restrictions.
Technical levels
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