The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) extended its rally over the second half of the week against the US Dollar (USD reaching 0.6140 as investors sold the greenback. Inflation in the US published bang on expectations of 3.4%, down form 3.5% y/y with markets breathing a sigh of relief sending risk currencies higher. This marks the lowest inflation read since this time in 2021. The fight against inflation is starting to take hold with the economy gradually easing. US Retail Sales for April printed at the same time coming in poor at 0.0% based on expectations of 0.4%. To be fair most of the selling in the USD could have been based on the Retail Sales number and not so much CPI. The pair is trading at an 8-week high and now targets the 0.6200 area of mid-January. Next week’s main data release is RBNZ Official Cash Rate which is expected to remain at 5.50%- the forward outlook will interesting.
The current interbank midrate is: NZDUSD 0.6114
The interbank range this week has been: NZDUSD 0.5993- 0.6139