NZD/USD Back Above 0.6000, House Prices Rise

The Kiwi traded higher on Wednesday after the release of the US ISM Services PMI for March missed expectations, coming in at 51.4 vs 52.7 expected and down from 52.6 in Feb. The NZD is up 0.64% vs the USD, while the BBDXY fell 0.35% to 1242.85.

• NZD/USD was relatively stable heading into US data, before weaker than expected ISM saw the pair rally 40 pips from 0.5970 to 0.6010, where we trade now. The pair is now up 1.20% from cycle lows made on April 1.
• Key levels to watch: initial resistant is 0.6035 (20-day EMA), a break here would open up 0.6080 (50-day EMA) while a move above there would open a retest of the 0.6107 (Mar 21 high). Initial support is at 0.5940 (Apr 1 / Nov 17 lows) while a break below here would open up a 0.5900 area.
• The US-NZ 2y swap just off recent highs down 4bps to -19.4bps
• Upcoming expiries: US$170m puts with a 0.6035 strike for Apr 3rd NY cut.
• Earlier, NZ eight-month budget deficit was wider than expected, coming in at NZ$4.21b vs NZ$4.17b. Corelogic March House Prices rose 0.1% vs -1.4% in Feb, marking the first annual gain in 18 months, while Barfoot & Thompson reported Auckland average house prices surged 10% in March.
• Looking ahead, ANZ Commodity Prices are expected at 11.00am AEST