AUD/NZD oscillates below 1.0600 ahead of Aussie Consumer Inflation Expectations

• AUD/NZD is auctioning a marked territory as investors await Australian Consumer Inflation Expectations.
• Aussie Inflation Expectations are likely to remain higher due to the unavailability of a downside signal.
• The RBNZ has already raised its OCR to 2.5% to combat price pressures.

The AUD/NZD pair is displaying back and forth moves below the critical hurdle of 1.0600 in the early Asian session. The cross is juggling in a range of 1.0384-1.0642 as investors are awaiting the release of the Australian Consumer Inflation Expectations data.

The University of Melbourne will dictate the Consumer Inflation Expectations, which presents the consumer expectations of future inflation during the next 12 months. Earlier, the inflation data landed at 6.3%. This time, an upside surprise is expected as price pressures are soaring vigorously in the Australian economy. Earlier, the aussie inflation landed at 6.1% for the second quarter of CY2022, higher than the prior release of 5.1%. The inflation figure of 6.1% is the highest recorded since 1990, which indicates that the price pressures are not likely to find a sigh of relief.

This will keep the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on its toes as policy tightening measures are critical to combat the ramping inflation. It is worth noting that the RBA has already elevated its Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 1.85% after three consecutive 50 basis points (bps) interest rate hike announcements.

On the NZ front, price pressures are already soaring in the NZ economy and have not displayed a meaningful exhaustion sign yet. As per the June print, an inflation rate of 7.3% is sufficient to create headwinds for the households. To contain the inflation mess, Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Adrian Orr is continuously elevating its interest rates, which are now moved to 2.5%, the highest since March 2016.