New Zealand bonds mixed at close after RBNZ delivers dovish statement, keeps interest rate steady

New Zealand bonds closed mixed Thursday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) remained on hold at its monetary policy meeting, held late yesterday, while delivering a dovish tilt to its statement.

The central bank reiterated that the Official Cash Rate (OCR) will remain low for a long period of time, and that the next move could be up or down.

At the time of closing, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, remained tad higher at 2.70 percent, the yield on the long-term 20-year note slipped 1/2 basis point to 3.03 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year slumped 4 basis points to 1.77 percent.

The RBNZ has (finally) accepted the reality that the economy has slowed this year. Consequently, they have become more dovish on the OCR outlook. Consequently, they have pushed out the expected date for OCR hikes, Westpac Research reported.

"We now see a risk that the OCR starts rising even later than our long-held forecast of late 2019," the report added.

Meanwhile, the NZX 50 index closed 0.77 percent higher at 8,940.19, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly NZD Strength Index remained highly bearish at -125.62 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex