NZ Says Differences W/China "Harder To Reconcile," Housing Mkt Shows Early Signs Of Cooling

NZD/USD failed to hold onto its marginal opening gains and last trades at $0.7167, just above neutral levels. There has been little in the way of local news flow to provide any meaningful market impetus, with participants assessing global news from over the weekend.

• NZ PM Ardern appeared at the China Busines Summit in Auckland today, noting that "the differences between our systems (...) are becoming harder to reconcile," adding that "managing the relationship is not always going to be easy and there can be no guarantees." The slight but significant hardening of her rhetoric comes at a time when New Zealand remains pressured by its allies from the Five Eyes group to join them in adopting a more assertive stance on China's human rights record.
• Ardern will be heading to a Cabinet meeting later today and she is expected to announce a travel bubble with the Cook Islands after that.
• Elsewhere, preliminary signals that the local housing market is beginning to cool have grabbed attention, with average asking prices & new listings on property website realestate.co.nz seen falling in Apr. Last week, interest.co.nz reported that "activity continued to coolin Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms ."
• We are off to a slow start to a busy week, with the local docket empty today. Tuesday will see the release of CoreLogic House Price Index, with focus Wednesday moving to Q1 labour mkt report & the RBNZ's FSR. Building permits & flash ANZ Business Confidence are due Thursday, with inflation expectations coming up Friday.
• A break below Apr 22 low of $0.7146 would expose Apr 19 low of $0.7122, while gains past Apr 29 high of $0.7287 would open up Mar 2 high of $0.7307.