Westpac lowering their expectations for the New Zealand dollar citing familiar (by now) reasons:

  • The US dollar should strengthen further if the Fed hikes further this year, and that will push NZD/USD lower.
  • In addition, the NZ-US interest rate advantage has been eroded, removing one of the previous attractions of the NZD.
  • Further, domestic data is indicating the NZ economy is slowing. We expect NZD/USD to fall to 0.64 or lower by year end

Those first two points are also applicable to the AUD, and on the third there are arguments to lean that way also (but applied to the NZD they are stronger, hence the underperformance of the kiwi against the aussie)