New Zealand Relaxes Covid Restrictions South Of Auckland

NZD/USD ground lower while generally remaining rangebound on Monday, as the Delta variant continued to spread in Aotearoa, while officials reported the first death from myocarditis, which may have been a side effect of the Pfizer vaccine (albeit they noted that the risk of myocarditis is much greater after a Covid-19 infection than after inoculation).

• PM Ardern announced Monday that Auckland will remain at alert level 4 at least for another two weeks, while areas south of New Zealand's largest city will move to level 3 at midnight today.
• Kiwibank said in their weekly note that "given the massive divergence between the U.S. Fed and the RBNZ, the Kiwi dollar is simply undervalued".
• Statistics New Zealand will release building permits data within half an hour or so, with ANZ Business Confidence coming up later in the day. Terms of trade index will hit the wires on Thursday.
• NZD/USD last trades at $0.6999, virtually unchanged on the day. A break above Aug 27 high of $0.7019 would encourage bulls to take aim at $0.7029, which capped gains on Aug 17. Conversely, a retreat under Aug 27 low of $0.6933 would bring Aug 20 low of $0.6805 into view.