Lack of inflation, higher kiwi suggest RBNZ rate cut next week, may be low point of cycle

Lack of inflation, higher kiwi suggest RBNZ rate cut next week, may be low point of cycle
Jonathan Underhill
Dec. 4 (BusinessDesk) - The Reserve Bank will likely lower the official cash rate to 2.5 percent next week, and may signal the end of the current easing cycle, because inflation is weaker than expected, the kiwi dollar is higher, and the central bank envisaged one further reduction after it cut in September. Governor Graeme Wheeler kept the benchmark interest rate at 2.75 percent at his Oct. 29 review, saying "some further reduction in the OCR seems likely" to ensure annual inflation returns to the mid point of its 1 percent-to-3 percent tar...