USD suffers some selling today as markets await FOMC rate hike. But NZD and AUD are performing even worse as seen in daily heatmap. On the other hand, solid UK job data, with fall in unemployment rate to 4.3%, and acceleration wage growth, keeps Sterling buoyed. Indeed, GBP is staying as the strongest one for the week ahead of tomorrow’s BoE rate decision. Canadian Dollar follows as the strongest for the day.
In between FOMC and BoE, RBNZ will also announce rate decision in the upcoming Asian session. RBNZ is widely expected to keep the Official Cash Rate OCR unchanged at 1.75%. In the prior statement, RBNZ noted that “monetary policy will remain accommodative for a considerable period. Numerous uncertainties remain and policy may need to adjust accordingly.” That’s clearly seen as easing bias by the markets. We’re not expecting any change in the OCR, nor the slightly dovish stance in tomorrow’s announcement.
Looking at the 6H action bias chart, NZD/USD is clearly in a persisting near term down move, just came out of brief consolidation.
From the D action bias chart, NZD/USD is staying to increase downside bias after taking out 0.7176 support (Feb 6). It’s likely just the start of a bigger downward move given the developments.
