NZD rises as chance grows on interest rate hikes; Oil rises sharply after OPEC+ abandoned its meeting

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research released its business confidence index earlier, which rose from -13% in Q1 to 7% in Q2. The sharp increase has led to the possibility of interest rate hikes. Some banking analysts have already pulled forward their interest rate hike expectation to November 2021. As a result, NZDUSD jumped by 0.88%, trading at 0.7080. Despite the decision made earlier in the day to keep the interest rate unchanged at 0.10%, AUDUSD is still up by 0.51%, trading at 0.7568. Australia has previously promised that it would keep the rate unchanged until 2024.

Outside the FX market, investors are also closely monitoring oil prices. After OPEC+ abandoned its meeting on Monday, oil prices rose sharply. Investors tend to believe that the crude oil market will tighten further since OPEC+ has failed to agree on production increases. Crude oil WTI has risen by 2.02%, currently trading at $76.68.