New Zealand’s quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI) lands at 21:45 UTC on 21 October, the headline macro release of the Asia-Pacific session and the main scheduled event for the New Zealand dollar. With a 0.8% forecast sitting well below the 1.5% recorded last quarter, it is the session’s focus for kiwi watchers.
What the New Zealand CPI measures
The CPI tracks the change in the price of a fixed basket of goods and services bought by households, measured quarter on quarter. Because New Zealand reports inflation quarterly rather than monthly, each print carries extra weight.
Markets follow it closely because it is a core input into how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reads inflation pressure, which in turn feeds expectations around monetary policy and the kiwi. The consensus forecast is 0.8%, against the 1.5% logged in the previous quarter β a notably softer quarterly pace if it lands in line.
How the New Zealand dollar pairs are trading
Ahead of the release, NZD/USD is the biggest mover among the kiwi pairs, trading near 0.5682 and up 0.31% on the day. EUR/NZD is next, down 0.21% at about 1.97487, while GBP/NZD is up 0.15% near 2.3523.
AUD/NZD sits a touch lower, off 0.08% around 1.2313. The quieter crosses are NZD/CHF at roughly 0.46869 and NZD/JPY near 89.86, each up 0.06% on the day.
The quarterly figure is watched as a gauge of how quickly domestic inflation is building or fading relative to the prior reading.
Descriptive market news from the ForexBullion Research Team. Not investment advice.
