Forex Flash: Antipodean results weigh in, RBA in focus – UBS

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Overnight, New Zealand house prices rose 2.4% in March (+10.9% YoY) - the fastest monthly increase in six years. Finance Minister English said that if the boom continues, interest rates might have to rise. This resonated with a similar warning issued by RBNZ Deputy Governor Spencer on Monday, and the NZD/USD eventually climbed on the back of this to 0.8600 overnight.

Meanwhile, also lending support to our long-term short AUD/NZD trade recommendation, Australia's unemployment rate ticked higher to 5.6% in March - the highest it has been since November 2009. According to Research Analyst Gareth Berry at UBS, “That alone is unlikely to trigger a rate cut, but should be enough to encourage the RBA to keep its easing bias in place. As a minimum this now increases the focus on the Q1 CPI release due on April 24th.”