RBNZ likely to hold rates steady for the rest of the year – Westpac

FXStreet (Barcelona) - Dominick Stephens, Chief Economist at Westpac, believes that the RBNZ might keep OCR on hold for the rest of the year, but also warns of a 40% probability of two or more cuts ahead.

Key Quotes

“Today’s OCR Review gave the official stamp of approval to last week’s speech. The RBNZ has adopted a conditional easing bias.”

“The OCR will remain on hold unless domestic demand weakens and wage and price-setting behaviour settles below the inflation target.”

“We suspect wage and price-setting will indeed drop, but we doubt that demand will weaken.”

“There were no material surprises in the Review, but markets still reacted to confirmation of the conditional easing bias.”

“The OCR is most likely to remain on hold, but there is a 40% chance of two or more cuts over the coming year.”

“If cuts do occur, they would most likely occur late in the year.”

AUD/USD keeps losses below 0.80

The Australian dollar fell back in red against its US counterpart in Asia, with AUD/USD back below 0.80 handle, largely on the back of an extended recovery seen in the greenback supported by the latest FOMC statement which came out slightly less dovish than anticipated.
Đọc thêm Previous

Nikkei falls to fresh weekly post BOJ

The Japanese equities index re-opened on Thursday sharply lower with a negative gap of over 200 points after the latest FOMC statement signalled that the central bank is waiting for the economy to strengthen further before they to start raise interest rates. Subsequently the index fell further in to losses after BOJ kept its monetary policy steady.
Đọc thêm Next