Kiwis Go To Polls

NZD/USD was biased lower in Thursday's Asia-Pac session, following a dovish speech from RBA Gov Lowe. The pace of its slide accelerated in the London session, on the back of a familiar risk-off cocktail of coronavirus resurgence across Europe, above-forecast addition of initial jobless claims and a fiscal impasse in the U.S., Sino-U.S. tensions and the difficult Brexit situation. Losses were cushioned by the 100-DMA, the rate had a brief look just under that moving average before trimming losses.

• New Zealand's BusinessNZ M'fing PMI showed an accelerated expansion of the sector, with headline index improving to 54.0 from 51.0 amid the impact of lifting the Auckland lockdown.
• It is the last day of campaigning in New Zealand, with over a million ballots already cast in early voting. Labour leader Ardern and National leader Collins faced off in the last debate yesterday. The latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll put Labour at 46% and National at 31%. The poll suggested that Labour would be 2 seats short of majority, which means it would likely need to enter coalition with the Greens.
• NZD/USD trades +3 pips at $0.6601, with initial focus falling on the 100-DMA, intersecting at $0.6582. Below there opens Oct 8 low of $0.6547. Conversely, a push through Oct 14 high of $0.6682 is needed to reinstate bullish momentum and draw attention to Sep 18 high of $0.6798.
• Focus next week turns to a joint appearance from RBNZ's Hawkesby & Bascand (Monday), New Zealand's monthly credit card spending and (Wednesday) and quarterly CPI (Friday).