New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday, the lockdown in the country’s largest city of Auckland will be extended by two weeks.

Earlier on, the local media reported that the government is considering tightening restrictions in Auckland again, on the lines of a 'circuit breaker' lockdown.

This comes as the South Pacific Island nation reports a rise in the covid cases, with 2.5% of its population having managed to vaccinate in a single day.

Market reaction

NZD/USD is retreating on these headlines, as it trades at 0.7073, up 0.14% on the day, as of writing. The spot jumped to five-month highs of 0.7105 after NZ CPI upside surprise, which brought the RBNZ rate hike expectations back into play.