A soft inflation report from New Zealand weighed broadly on the Kiwi dollar yesterday, as traders began to price in the prospects of a 25bp hike (down form 50bp) or even a pause at the RBNZ's next meeting. The slight risk-off tone saw flows into the yen, and risk-currencies such as AUD and NZD were lower which has placed ZD/JPY on our shirt watchlist.
The cross has seen repeated failures to close above 83.50 over the past three weeks, and yesterday's high met resistance perfectly at the 200-day EMA. Given the bearish engulfing candle which has now formed, we suspect a leg lower seems more probably than a break higher. Also note the decisive close beneath trend support.
- The bias remains bearish beneath yesterday's high
- However, we'll seek bearish setups below/around 83.15 (50% retracement of yesterday's open-close range)
- Initial target is the cycle just above 82.0