NZD/USD Sheds Handful Of Pips, OCR Review Eyed This Week

NZD/USD managed to finish last week in positive territory, just, creeping higher Friday amid mixed performance from stocks and a firmer commodity complex. Light selling pressure has emerged as the new week got underway, with the pair last trading -9 pips at $0.6187.

• From a technical standpoint, bulls are on alert as NZD/USD is testing descending trendline resistance drawn off Jun 3 high. A break above Jul 4 high of $0.6252 would encourage them to seek further gains towards $0.6327, which marks the high prints of Jun 24 & 27. Bears need a retreat past Jul 5 low of $0.6125 to reassert their dominance and set their sights on the psychological $0.6000 figure.
• PM Ardern told RNMZ that tweaking COVID-19 traffic light settings would do little to contain the current wave of infections and urged the public to comply with existing guidelines. Ardern will leave the country tomorrow as she is heading for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting.
• The RBNZ will announce its next monetary policy decision this Wednesday. It's a non-MPS meeting, which means there will be no updated forecasts or press conference. All 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Reserve Bank to stay the course and deliver another 50bp hike to the OCR.
• Key local data releases this week include card spending (Monday) & BusinessNZ M'fing PMI (Friday).