The Reserve Bank of New Zealand met market expectations today with a 0.5% rise for its cash rate target, taking it from 3.0% to 3.5%. This was the fifth consecutive 50bp rate rise from the Bank.

NZD/USD popped higher on the statement, to highs just over 0.5800 before dropping back to be, as I update, barely changed on the session.

As the kiwi retraced its rise FX nearly across the board fell against the USD, although it was not a day of wide ranges. AUD, GBP, EUR, CAD all fell away a little.

USD/JPY was a bit of an exception. It dropped to lows under 143.60 early in the session but has since recovered to a high above 144.30. This is a decent range for the Asian timezone. There was little specific news for it.

The RBA decision yesterday to slow rate hikes (+25bp from the RBA vs, +50 expected) was a factor in the bullish risk appetite seen on Tuesday. The RBNZ today, though, ploughed ahead with its 50bp hike, which may give a pause to risk in the day coming up.

News flow was light, and data releases were lower-tier in importance.

Regional equities gained, taking their lead from another strong up day on Wall Street.

The OPEC+ meeting is ahead for the day, with murmurings of an up to 2mn barrel/day output cut. The US is lobbying, hard, for no cut from the cartel (see bullets above).

nzdusd wrap 05 October 2022