It is extremely risky to trade dollar pairs today: during the US trading session on Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will announce his "verdict", which will determine the fate of the US currency. And although most experts are confident that the chairman of the Federal Reserve will maintain a wait-and-see position regarding the curtailment of QE, there are serious risks of false price movements, especially in the relatively short period of time between the speech and the end of the trading week. During periods of such emotional volatility, it is best to stay out of the market: traders will not immediately crystallize their general opinion about the results of the June meeting. Therefore, today it is possible (and necessary) to distract from the currency pairs of the "major" group by paying attention to cross-pairs that are almost not affected by the greenback.
Among the numerous cross-pairs, the AUD/NZD pair can be distinguished. This cross demonstrates the most stable "one-way" movement: since the beginning of June, the pair has been within the framework of a protracted downward trend. Despite the temporary upward pullbacks, the New Zealand dollar is persistently strengthening its position. Over the past 11 weeks, the pair have marched almost 500 points, and apparently, this is not the limit. At least, the fundamental picture is still in favor of the New Zealand dollar, despite certain "fly in the ointment" in the form of the notorious "delta strain". But as for the prospects of the Australian dollar, the situation here looks quite vague.
Let me remind you that after the RBNZ announced the termination of the incentive program at the July meeting (which was supposed to be in effect until the summer of 2022), a general opinion crystallized in the market: the next step of the regulator will be an increase in the interest rate. But by an evil irony of fate, the first case of coronavirus in many months was discovered in New Zealand (inside the country) just before the RBNZ meeting. Given the fact that even isolated cases of infection are treated seriously in the country, there was no doubt that the regulator would not rush to make "hawkish" decisions.
In the end, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand took a break, thereby bringing down the national currency. But there is one "but" here. In an accompanying statement, the RBNZ admitted the likelihood that the regulator will tighten monetary policy at the December meeting if the country retains "the necessary conditions for this." Also, the New Zealand Central Bank indicated that in September 2022 the rate should be 1.4% (previously the forecast level was at around 0.50%). In addition, the central bank members were optimistic about the rate of inflation growth: the growth of the annual CPI, according to forecasts, should grow to 2.2% by September next year (previously the forecast was at 1.6%).
Let me remind you that, at the beginning of this year, New Zealand actually defeated the pandemic, stopping the spread of COVID-19. Isolated cases of the disease were registered on the island, not within the country but among those citizens who returned from abroad. A strict and peremptory quarantine policy has helped New Zealand eliminate COVID-19, allowing people to live without any restrictions. It can be assumed that the current restrictions will lead to a similar result.
In Australia, the situation is more complicated-both in the context of the epidemiological situation and in the context of the prospects for tightening monetary policy. Yesterday, almost a thousand new cases of coronavirus infection were detected in the country, this is the largest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic. Due to the Covid outbreak in the country's three largest cities — Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney – almost half of all Australians live in isolation. In Sydney, where more than 5 million people live, the lockdown was extended for another month, until the end of September. And surely this is not the last prolongation of the quarantine. Against the background of recent trends, the head of the Australian government said that the country will not lift quarantine restrictions until it vaccinates 70% of adults. According to preliminary estimates, this will happen no earlier than October-November of this year.
Recall that at the last meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia confirmed the decision taken at its July meeting to reduce the volume of purchases of government bonds to $4 billion a week from September from the current $5 billion. However, the prospects for further steps were questionable. According to the minutes of the last meeting of the RBA, the members of the Central Bank during the discussion admitted the option of suspending the curtailment of QE due to the worsening of the epidemiological situation. This fact put pressure on the Australian dollar - especially when paired with the New Zealand dollar, amid the hawkish intentions of the RBNZ. I note that the August meeting of the RBA was held at the beginning of the month, and since then the situation with the coronavirus in the country has only worsened.
Thus, the current fundamental background contributes to the further development of the downward trend of AUD/NZD. The nearest target is 1.0400 (lower line of the Bollinger Bands indicator on the daily chart). The next target is located at 1.0350 (also the lower line of the Bollinger Bands, only on the weekly timeframe).
