NZD/USD drops as RBNZ's official talks about negative interest rate
- NZD/USD takes a hit as RBNZ's official says the central bank is working on negative rates.
- The dovish comments overshadow upbeat New Zealand Activity Outlook data.
The selling interest around the New Zealand dollar strengthened on Thursday, pushing NZD/USD down from 0.6577 to 0.6557 on dovish comments by Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) official.
"Inflation is likely to remain well below the target for three years," RBNZ's Hawkesby said and added that the central bank is actively working on negative interest rates and funding for a lending program.
The policymaker said its better to do too much too soon rather than fall behind the curve.
Hawkesby's comments about negative rates drew offers for the NZD and overshadowed a better-than-expected New Zealand data released at 00:00 GMT.
New Zealand's Business Confidence ticked higher to -14.5 in October versus expectations for a decline to -32.6 from September's 28.5. Meanwhile, October's Activity Outlook rose to 3.6% from September's -5.4% reading and expectations for -14.6%.
Technical levels