NZD Pressured Again

NZD is bottom of the pile so far, NZD/USD down 11 pips at 0.6829 – off session lows but still lagging its peers. There were two cases of coronavirus discovered in Wellington, which could be a source of worry as the outbreak had previously been confined to Auckland.

• AUD/USD is up 1 pip at 0.7148. A speech from RBA Assistant Governor Kent came and went with little fanfare. Focus will continue to fall on the local COVID situation after yesterday's jump in new cases in both NSW & Victoria.
• USD/JPY is up 9 pips. Data showed CPI fell less than expected in July, dropping 0.3% against a consensus of a 0.4% decline. Core-Core CPI fell 0.6% against an estimated decline of 0.8%.
• USD/CNH is down 20 pips, markets look ahead to the LPR announcements later in the session. There is an outside chance of a cut after some of the recent dovish PBOC moves, but state media have said that the PBOC is unlikely to cut LPR rates in August.
• Elsewhere UK GfK consumer confidence printed -8 in August compared to -7 expected, GBP/USD is down 4 pips while EUR/USD is up 4 pips.
• Looking ahead markets await German PPI data and US retail sales figures.