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Market Musing, Asia Pacific

RBNZ: who let the doves out?

After holding steady last time out the Reserve Bank of New Zealand once again spread its ‘dovish’ wings at today’s policy meeting. As expected, the RBNZ announced another 25bp cut which lowered the Official Cash Rate to 3%, however the updated assessment of the economic landscape was more downbeat and opened the door to settings being moved into ‘accommodative’ territory over future meetings (chart 1). The sluggish performance of the NZ economy remains front of mind with the RBNZ noting the “recovery stalled in the second quarter of this year”. NZ economic growth is forecast to improve but remain below...

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RBA: (finally) a bit more relief

After defying expectations by holding interest rates steady in July the RBA (finally) announced some more ‘relief’ for indebted households/businesses at today’s meeting. The RBA lowered the cash rate by 25bps to 3.60% with the Board voting unanimously (i.e. 9-0) in favour of the move. This is the 3rd reduction since February and was widely anticipated given the RBA noted last time that the decision to stand still was one of “timing not direction”. In our opinion, domestic inflation and labour market trends point to a further recalibration lower in interest rates towards “neutral” (which in our judgement is a...

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Global risks don’t equate to a crisis

Last week’s ‘reciprocal tariff’ announcements by the US, and subsequent retaliation last Friday by China, has caused a fair degree of market upheaval. Given the broad-based and outsized tariffs imposed on goods shipped to the US, concerns about downside growth and upside inflation risks have spiked, and this has triggered an abrupt repricing in ‘complacent’ asset markets (chart 1). Equities and commodities have tumbled sharply over the past few sessions, as have growth-linked currencies such as the NZD and particularly the AUD which has plunged to levels last traded in the early dark days of COVID (now ~$0.6030). In our...

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RBA: Navigating the uncertainty

After kicking off its policy recalibration at its meeting in February the RBA kept the cash rate steady at 4.1% today. This was widely expected. The RBA’s post meeting statement didn’t provide any strong signals about the timing of the next possible move. This is also something Governor Bullock tried to avoid in her press conference. Uncertainty clouds the domestic and global landscape; hence the RBA is awaiting some clarity as it navigates the tricky terrain. With there being upside and downside risks around the outlook, and with the Board “cautious” about how things may pan out, the RBA reiterated...

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AUD/EUR: signs of life emerging

The jump up in the EUR over March, particularly in the first few weeks of the month, on the back of the optimism about the Eurozone’s growth prospects stemming from the ‘sea change’ in fiscal/defence spending, has been a key theme in FX markets (chart 1). The EUR’s resurgence has also been an important force that has dragged crosses like AUD/EUR and NZD/EUR to the lower end of their respective multi-year ranges. At face value, the underlying shift coming through with regards to fiscal spending and infrastructure investment by governments is a longer-term economic support for Europe. This helps reinforce...

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