NZD/USD: Bears await China CPI to break the monotony around 0.6650
- NZD/USD prints mild losses while staying near recently favorite range near mid-0.6600s.
- RBA’s dovish tone joins risk-off mood to tame the bulls eyeing upbeat election results, absence of negatives at home.
- China CPI is expected to weaken, PPI may recovery in September.
NZD/USD bounces off an intraday low of 0.6648 to 0.6655 during the initial Asian session on Thursday. Even so, the quote prints 0.03% losses on a day as recently dovish comments from RBA Governor Philip Lowe, coupled with risk-negative news, probes the traders struggling around 0.6650 so far in the week.
RBA’s Lowe follows the RBNZ’s dovish path…
On Wednesday’s RBNZ Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby reiterated the bearish bias at the New Zealand central bank. The policymaker said that there are no concerns that negative rates are problematic for banks. On the other hand, RBA’s Lowe also sounded downbeat while citing possibilities of further rate cuts to 0.10% from the current 0.25%.
Read: Breaking: AUD/USD drops through key trendline support in a 0.57% move on RBA Lowe
The basis for the central bankers’ weakness could be the coronavirus (COVID-19) wave 2.0, which so far gains significant momentum in Europe, as well as disappointment from the US Congress. The American policymakers have repeatedly failed on the market expectations of a big stimulus and weighed down the Antipodeans off-late.
On the positive side, increasing odds of single-party leadership in New Zealand during this weekend’s general election is something that stops the NZD/USD bears. Jacinda Ardern is most likely to be praised for her ability to stop the pandemic’s entry inside the pacific nation with another term.
Amid these plays, S&P 500 Futures print mild gains around 3,485 whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 and New Zealand’s NZX 50 are both tracking Wall Street’s losses.
Moving on, China’s September month Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) will direct the immediate NZD/USD moves. The forecast suggests the headline CPI ease from 2.4% YoY to 1.8% whereas PPI may recover from -2.0% to -1.8% during the stated month.
Read: When is the Australian employment report and how could it affect AUD/USD?
With the likely mixed results, the kiwi pair is expected to keep the recent weakness amid downbeat risk-tone sentiment.
Technical analysis
While 0.6680/85 restricts immediate upside of NZD/USD, 50-day SMA near 0.6630 raises bars for the bears’ entries.