NZD/USD: Bullish for the week ahead, targeting the 0.7250- 0.7280 area - Westpac

Imre Speizer, Research Analyst at Westpac remains bullish for the week ahead for NZD/USD, targeting the 0.7250- 0.7280 area, contingent on US dollar weakness persisting.

Key Quotes

“The main reason for the elevated NZD/USD is US dollar weakness in 2017. Also helping are strong NZ fundamentals, global risk appetite, and an unwinding of speculators’ short NZD positions.”

“The highlight of the NZ data calendar this week is Q1 GDP (Thu). We expect a rebound from a temporarily weak Q4, a 0.8% q/q pace (from 0.4%) and a 2.8% y/y pace (from 2.7%). Less market-moving data includes Q1 BoP (Wed), REINZ house prices, and manufacturing PMI (Fri).”

“Three months ahead: Multi-month, we stick with our bearish outlook, targeting 0.68 by year end, although we emphasize that is contingent on the rising US interest rate a US dollar trends eventually reasserting themselves.”