NZD/USD Pops Higher As PM Ardern Confirms Moving Auckland To Alert Level 1

The confirmation that Auckland will move to alert level 1 on Oct 7 helped NZD/USD add a handful of pips and establish itself in positive territory. PM Ardern announced the decision at her usual post-Cabinet press conference. It came as no surprise, as the decision to move Auckland down to level 1 had been agreed in principle and only subject to confirmation today, while there has been nothing in the way of recent health data to warrant a change in strategy.

• during her presser, PM Ardern added that New Zealand will join a travel bubble with Australia when it is safe to do so. National Leader Collins had already been seeking to outbid Labour's Ardern this morning, as she told Newstalk ZB that under a National gov't Auckland would already be at alert level 1 and the travel bubble with Australia would be two-way.
• Advance voting is already underway in New Zealand and both PM Ardern and National leader Collins cast their votes over the weekend. They are preparing to cross swords in the third leaders' debate tomorrow.
• On the data front, ANZ Commodity Price Index fell slightly more than expected in September.
• Looking ahead, flash ANZ Business Confidence comes out on Thursday.
• NZD/USD last trades +7 pips at $0.6648. A move through Oct 1 high of $0.6657 would allow bulls to set their sights on Sep 18 high of $0.6798. Conversely, a dip through the 100-DMA at $0.6540 & Sep 24 low of $0.6512 would draw attention to Aug 20 low/23.6% retracement of the YtD range at $0.6489/85.