Oil Surge & NYSE's U-Turn On Chinese Telecoms Delisting Underpin NZD Tuesday

The news that the NYSE scrapped plans to delist three Chinese telecoms coupled with a rally in crude oil prices underpinned NZD/USD Tuesday. Greenback weakness linked to the touted corporate hedging flows & jitters ahead of Georgia runoff elections helped amplify the move. NZD/USD took out the 2020 high of $0.7241, building on last year's rally off March lows.

• Crude oil picked up a bid after Saudi Arabia pledged to unilaterally cut its output by 1mn barrels/day, even as OPEC+ allowed for marginal hikes in production by Russia and Kazakhstan.
• The latest housing market data released out of New Zealand confirmed the ongoing surge in house prices, with CoreLogic House Price Index rallying 11.1% Y/Y in Dec. Barfoot & Thompson said they finished 2020 with sales volume rising 28% Y/Y, average price rising 15.1% and median price topping NZ$1mn for the first time on record.
• Headline GDT price index rose 3.9% at Tuesday's auction, with whole milk powder prices increasing 3.1%.
• The pair last sits at $0.7249, just shy of neutral levels. A pullback under Jan 4 low of $0.7153 would bring Dec 28 low of $0.7084 into play. Bulls look for a push through Tuesday's high of $0.7259 before taking aim at the upper 3.0% Bollinger band at $0.7304.
• The local economic docket is virtually empty this week.