New Zealand Kiwi Plunges After Inflation Comes In LOWER Than Expected

The New Zealand kiwi just fell sharply against the U.S. dollar after the country's consumer price index came in lower than expected.

Consumer prices in Q4 fell 0.2 percent versus expectations of a gain of 0.1 percent. Year-over-year, prices were only up 0.9 percent versus expectations of a 1.2 percent advance.

Naturally, one would expect the opposite reaction.

There was one slight disparity: non-tradable prices rose 0.3 percent in Q4 while tradable prices fell 0.7 percent.

Perhaps traders expect the weak inflation print to up the chances that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand shifts toward a more accomodative monetary policy stance.

The kiwi fell from its level around $0.84 to a low of $0.8327 post-announcement: