NZD/USD plunges to 12-day low, bears target 0.6100 after RBNZ

• NZD/USD finds itself in aggressive bidding after the RBNZ decides to maintain the status quo.
• The sharp intraday drop does not appear to have been affected by the lack of buying interest in the USD.
• Traders now await RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr's press release for any significant boost.

The NZD/USD pair attracts heavy selling after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) announced its policy decision and falls to more than one-week lows in the last hour. The price has fallen to twelve-day lows at 0.6118 and appears vulnerable to extending the recent pullback from the more than one-month high reached last week.

As expected, the RBNZ decided to keep the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.50% for the fifth consecutive time at the end of the February policy meeting. This appears to have disappointed some investors who were anticipating further tightening in the wake of still stagnant inflation and turns out to be a key factor in putting downward pressure on the New Zealand Dollar (NZD). Attention now turns to RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr's press conference at 02:00 GMT, which should instill some volatility and produce short-term trading opportunities around the NZD/USD pair.

Meanwhile, the bulls appear unaffected by the weak price action of the US Dollar (USD), which continues its struggle to gain any significant traction amid the impending US government shutdown. Apart from this, the Tuesday's disappointing US Durable Goods Orders release and a softer tone around US Treasury yields keep USD bulls on the defensive, although failing to lend much support to NZD/USD. This, in turn, suggests that the path of least resistance for prices is downward, validating the negative near-term outlook.