NZ FinMin Robertson, Treasury criticize higher interest rates

Anil Panchal FXStreet

“There have been long standing concerns that the market is not working well for New Zealanders,” said New Zealand (NZ) Minister of Finance (FinMin) Grant Robertson said in a statement per Reuters.

The policymaker also said that banks have consistently made high profits over a number of years and their returns have outperformed their peers in other countries.

“There has not been an in-depth look into competition issues in New Zealand's banking for some time, and New Zealand lags other countries such as Australia and the UK into doing a detailed analysis into banking services,” added NZ FinMin Robertson.

The same calls for examining the profitability of the country's banks and investigating whether competition in the sector was working well for consumers.

Earlier in the day, NZ Treasury stated that the domestic demand is being dampened by high interest rates.

NZD/USD remains indecisive

The news fails to move a needle on the NZD/USD as the quote remains sidelined near 0.6200 by the press time of early Tuesday in Asia.

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

EUR/USD remains below 1.1850 after US data

EUR/USD struggles to gain traction and trades in a narrow range below 1.1850 on Wednesday. The US Dollar stays resilient against its rivals following the better-than-expected Durable Goods Orders and housing data, limiting the pair's upside ahead of FOMC Minutes.

GBP/USD flirts with daily highs near 1.3580

GBP/USD manages to set aside two consecutive daily declines and trades with slight gains in the 1.3580 zone on Wednesday. Cable’s uptick comes despite acceptable gains in the Greenback and easing UK inflation figures, which seem to have reinforced the case for a BoE rate cut in March.

Gold regains some shine, retargets $5,000 ahead of FOMC Minutes

Gold gathers fresh upside traction on Wednesday, leaving part of the weakness seen at the beginning of the week and refocusing its attention to the key $5,000 mark per troy ounce, all ahead of the release of the FOMC Minutes and despite the modest uptick in the US Dollar.

Pi Network rally defies market pressure ahead of its first anniversary

Pi Network is trading above $0.1900 at press time on Wednesday, extending the weekly gains by nearly 8% so far. The steady recovery is supported by a short-term pause in mainnet migration, which reduces pressure on the PI token supply for Centralized Exchanges. The technical outlook focuses on the $0.1919 resistance as bullish momentum increases.

Mixed UK inflation data no gamechanger for the Bank of England

Food inflation plunged in January, but service sector price pressure is proving stickier. We continue to expect Bank of England rate cuts in March and June. The latest UK inflation read is a mixed bag for the Bank of England, but we doubt it drastically changes the odds of a March rate cut.

Top 3 Price Prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple face downside risk as bears regain control

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple remain under pressure on Wednesday, with the broader trend still sideways. BTC is edging below $68,000, nearing the lower consolidating boundary, while ETH and XRP also declined slightly, approaching their key supports.