The New Zealand dollar is down 60 pips to 0.8566 and continues to carve out new lows even as the market quiets ahead of a long weekend.

NZDUSD daily

NZDUSD daily

The global economic calendar is mostly light next week but the April 24 Reserve Bank of New Zealand interest rate decision will be a major highlight. The RBNZ is expected to hike rates to 3.00% from 2.75% in the second hike after nearly 3 years of flat rates.

All 15 economists polled by Bloomberg anticipate a quarter-point hike so there is little drama in the decision but continue hawkish rhetoric from Wheeler makes the short side of NZD/USD a tough trade.

That hasn’t deterred Morgan Stanley. Yesterday, analysts there recommended selling the pair at 0.8620 with a target of 0.8100 and a stop at 0.8700. So far so good. They say lower milk prices and CPI numbers earlier this week that were below estimates will hurt the pair. Their main risk is a hawkish RBNZ, they say.