Westpac in NZ (Imre Speizer) with a quick response on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announcement earlier

(ICYMI: RBNZ announce NO CHANGE to cash rate)

In brief:

  • RBNZ's retained its explicit easing bias, signalling a rate cut in November
  • The policy guidance paragraph ... was a repeat of August's. As explicit as the central bank can be
  • The NZD exchange rate narrative was also a repeat of August's
  • Markets have so far interpreted the outcome as a mild dovish surprise. That is because the stream of good NZ economic news over the past month had caused a hawkish reassessment of market pricing