Kiwi Pressured In Early Trade

Broader defensive mood pushed NZD/USD lower Thursday, with participants assessing the global coronavirus situation. The rate extended losses as sentiment soured on the back of headlines surrounding U.S. Pres Biden's plans on capital gains tax rate hike.

• NZ Foreign Min Mahuta reiterated her opinion that human rights issues in China could be discussed outside of the security & intelligence Five Eyes alliance. New Zealand has resisted pressure from other Five Eyes' members to issue joint communique condemning China's human rights record, drawing fierce criticism from some British MPs, as UK House of Commons unanimously declared the treatment of Chinese Uyghurs a genocide.
• Worth noting that while announcing the new deposit insurance scheme yesterday, FinMin Robertson noted that the Ministry of Finance will be given "a role in determining which types of lending the RBNZ is able to directly restrict."
• New Zealand's credit card spending headlines the local docket today.
• Looking further afield, next week focus moves to trade balance & final ANZ Business Confidence (Thursday) as well as ANZ Consumer Confidence (Friday).
• As a reminder, New Zealanders are off for the Anzac Day on Monday.
• NZD/USD has shed 14 pips so far and last trades at $0.7158, as the Antipodeans show some weakness in early trade. Bears look for a fall through Apr 19 low of $0.7122, towards Apr 7 low of $0.6997. On the flip side, a rally above Apr 20 high of $0.7230 would allow bulls to take aim at Mar 18 high of $0.7269.