New Zealand held rates steady, Asian shares up from yearly lows

RBNZ decided earlier to hold rates constant as the country is still in lockdown. The interest rate is unchanged at 0.25%. RBNZ expressed that, policy direction mostly depends on COVID. Delta variant has started to spread and has raised much concern in the market. After the announcement, NZD fell sharply to a 9-month low against USD at 0.6868. However, the pair has recovered as of now, trading at 0.6930 at press time.

In Asia, China reported its Q2 GDP earlier this week at 7.9%, missing the forecast at 8.1%. Most of the growth in Q2 has been supported by the exports as more and more countries eased their lockdown restrictions. Although GDP has missed the forecast, China’s declining COVID cases have helped gather some positive sentiment among investors. Asian shares today are moving away from their yearly lows.