ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: RBNZ hikes cash rate, signal the rate has

The
Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised its Official Cash Rate (OCR) by
25bp to 5.5% today in a split (5 to 2) decision and signalled the
hiking cycle is over. The Bank noted policy would remain restrictive
for some time to come and sees cuts from the back half of 2024. More
detail in the points above. NZD/USD was marked lower on the news. As
I update its sitting below 0.6200. Yields on NZ 2 years also dropped,
around 30bp down as I update. This dragged AUD/USD lower also, but
only by a few points. Its under 0.6600 after a 25 or so point range
only.

Earlier
in the session we had Q1 retail sales from New Zealand. These fell
again, after the fall in Q4 of last year, indicating that New Zealand
may be moving into recession already.

US
debt ceiling talks stalled, with no further meetings Tuesday evening
US time.

Apart
from NZD and AUD major FX was very quiet indeed.

Asian
equity markets all slid after a weak lead from Wall Street:

• Japan’s
  Nikkei 225 -1%

• China’s
  Shanghai Composite -0.8%

• Hong
  Kong’s Hang Seng -1.1%

• South
  Korea’s KOSPI -0.1%

• Australia’s
  S&P/ASX 200 -0.5%