Nomura Research previews the RBNZ April policy meeting.

"The RBNZ meets this week amid heightened Middle East uncertainty, following the speech by President Trump. We share the strong consensus that it will announce an unchanged cash rate of 2.25%. While we expect some sabre rattling – to guard against the risk of a jump in longer-term inflation expectations – we think the RBNZ will appear relatively balanced , and likely less hawkish than the RBA, ECB and BoE," Nomura notes.

"The renewed jump in oil prices is a negative for NZD too, as New Zealand is a large energy importer, and NZD has also proved somewhat risk-sensitive...We do think positioning favours NZD over AUD – given long positions in AUD in particular – but struggle to identify a fundamental catalyst to push AUD/NZD down near term," Nomura adds.