- RBNZ leaves the policy rate unchanged at 1.75% as expected.
- RBNZ Governor says rate outlook is balanced.
- US Dollar Index jumps to new 2019 high on Wednesday.
The NZD/USD pair rose sharply during the Asian session on Wednesday after the RBNZ announced its decision to leave the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 1.75%. Commenting on the policy and economic outlook, Governor Adrian Orr said that the risks around rates were balanced and added that the chance of a rate cut had not increased. After advancing to a fresh weekly high of 0.6852, the pair lost its traction in the second half and erased some of its early gains. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.6795, still adding 0.83% on a daily basis.
While testifying before the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, in Wellington, RBNZ Governor Orr echoed yesterday's message and didn't offer any new comments on the policy outlook. Commenting on the market reaction to the RBNZ statement, "The reaction to today’s Monetary Policy Statement indicates that financial markets saw the missive as being more hawkish than anticipated. The NZD is up over 1.0% and the chance of a near term cut in interest rates has been significantly reduced," said the NAB Research Team.
In addition to the RBNZ's optimistic outlook, hopes of the U.S. and China reaching a trade agreement even if President Trump doesn't meet his Chinese counterpart ahead of the March 1 deadline provided an additional lift to antipodean currencies.
Meanwhile, supported by the rising T-bond yields and today's inflation report, the US Dollar Index erased the losses it suffered yesterday and rose to its highest level since mid-December at 97.17 to force the pair to move below the 0.68 mark.
Key technical levels
NZD/USD
Overview:
Today Last Price: 0.6795
Today Daily change %: 0.83%
Today Daily Open: 0.6739
Trends:
Daily SMA20: 0.6805
Daily SMA50: 0.6791
Daily SMA100: 0.6726
Daily SMA200: 0.6755
Levels:
Previous Daily High: 0.6745
Previous Daily Low: 0.6719
Previous Weekly High: 0.6907
Previous Weekly Low: 0.6729
Previous Monthly High: 0.694
Previous Monthly Low: 0.6516
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%: 0.6735
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%: 0.6729
Daily Pivot Point S1: 0.6724
Daily Pivot Point S2: 0.6708
Daily Pivot Point S3: 0.6698
Daily Pivot Point R1: 0.675
Daily Pivot Point R2: 0.676
Daily Pivot Point R3: 0.6776
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