ForexLive Asia FX news wrap: RBNZ 25bp cash rate hike, as expected … but …
The lead in to the Asia session – US sanctions announced:
RBNZ:
Other:
The Reserve
Bank of New Zealand
raised
its official Cash Rate
( OCR )
by 25bp to 1% today. Its
being characterised as a ‘hawkish hike’ with some members saying the choice
of a 25 or 50 bp
hike was
finely balanced and that
50bp hikes in the future are not ruled out. The Bank’s forecast
path
ahead for the cash rate was moved
significantly higher (the Bank raised its projected OCR track to
3.35% by the end of 2024, much higher than the 2.6% endpoint
predictions released at the November ‘21 policy meeting, the
meeting preceding today’s). The Bank also announced when and how
its balance sheet wind-down would commence and be handled (see
bullets above).
The
New Zealand dollar moved higher after the 0100 GMT decision
and statement . Its
dipped marginally from its highs. RBNZ Governor Orr spoke at his news
conference (0200 GMT) and reiterated the potential for 50bp moves
ahead.
On
the data front we had wages information from Australia, showing
negative real wages (wage growth slower than inflation) for Q4 2021
and also a big miss for construction completions. The miss for
construction will be a substantial negative for the Q4 GDP figures
due next week (Wednesday morning March 2, local Australian time).
News
flow was sedate.
It
was a Japanese market holiday today.
Major
FX remained confined to small ranges only (NZD excepted, and even
that was 40-odd points only, low to high).
