The AUD/NZD pair has surrendered its intraday recovery recorded after dropping to near 1.1106 in the early Tokyo session. The release of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)’s minutes has weighed pressure on the cross. October’s monetary policy minutes state that the reason behind announcing a lower-than-expected rate hike of 25 basis points (bps) was risks from global and domestic growth.
Apart from that, RBA policymakers believe that the central bank has already pushed its rate higher in a short span of time, which could impact household spending.
On the Australian economic condition, the country is maintaining the jobless rate lowest at 3.5% in the last 50 years led by a solid labor market. A decline in oil prices has weighed pressure on headline inflation but core inflation has remained elevated due to higher prices for services.
Going forward, the Australian employment data will remain in focus. As per the consensus, the Employment Change will drop to 25k vs. the prior release of 33.5k. While the Unemployment Rate will remain steady at 3.5%.
In early Tokyo, the cross was weakened after the release of the higher-than-projected NZ inflation data. The annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) landed extremely higher at 7.2% vs. the expectations of 6.6% but marginally lower than the prior release of 7.3%. While the quarterly inflation figure surpassed the projections of 1.6% and the former print of 1.7% to 2.2%.
This has bolstered the fact that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will stick to its current pace of hiking interest rates as price pressures have not displayed an expected slowdown. Currently, the Official Cash Rate (OCR) stands at 3.5%.