RBNZ hikes; GBP/NZD gets whacked

The RBNZ hiked rates 25bps to 1.00% and gave a rather hawkish outlook to its guidance moving forward.  Members raised their guidance for the one-year OCR rate from 2.5% previously to 3.25%.  In addition, the committee said that it will begin reducing bond holdings purchased under the Large-Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) Program in July by selling 5 billion New Zealand dollars’ worth of bonds per year and by not reinvesting proceeds from bond maturities. See our complete RBNZ recap here.  As a result of the hawkish tone to meeting, the New Zealand Dollar went bid.

Guide to New Zealand Dollar

GBP/NZD was one currency pair that got hit due to the strong New Zealand Dollar.  The pair formed and inverted head and shoulders pattern during the Fall of 2021 and broke above the neckline of the pattern on December 17^th, 2021, near 1.9600.  The target for the pattern is the height from neckline to the head, added to the breakout point of the neckline.  In this case the target was near 2.0475.  Due the expected hawkishness of the BOE, the pair rallied and reached the target by January 28^th, making a high of 2.0535 on February 3^rd.  The pair has been moving lower since, down over 335 pips in just 2 days.

Source: Tradingview, Stone X

Trade GBP/NZD now: Login or Open a new account!

• Open an account in the UK
• Open an account in Australia
• Open an account in Singapore

On a 240-minute chart, GBP/NZD is running into support at the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level from the low of November 8^th to the recent highs on February 3^rd, near 1.9893.  Below there is a confluence of support at the 200 Day Moving Average (see daily), the 50% retracement of the same timeframe, and horizontal support between 1.9689 and 1.9713.  The 61.8% Fibonacci retracement is next level of support at 1.9496.  However, notice that the RSI is in oversold territory, indicating GBP/NZD may have fallen too far, too fast, and may be ready for a bounce.  First resistance is at the February 22^nd highs of 2.0227.  Above there, price can retrace back to the highs of February 3^rd at 2.0535.

Source: Tradingview, Stone X

The RBNZ raised rates and continued with its hawkish tone.  As a result, the New Zealand Dollar went bid and dragged GBP/NZD down.  However, the next BOE meeting is on March 17^th.  Recall that the BOE was also hawkish at the last meeting on February 3^rd, as they nearly hiked 50bps.  Not much has changed on that front.  Watch the Fibonacci retracement levels below current price for possible areas where GBP/NZD may pause or reverse, especially as we get closer to March 17^th!

Learn more about forex trading opportunities.