AUD/NZD: Australian dollar / New Zealand dollar

AUD/NZD is the price of one Australian dollar in New Zealand dollars. If the pair is quoted at 1.1000, one Australian dollar costs 1.10 New Zealand dollars. It is the cross between two close neighbours with deeply integrated economies, similar institutions and overlapping trading partners. Because the Australian and New Zealand dollars tend to react to global news in the same way, much of that news cancels out in the cross, which has given AUD/NZD a reputation for narrower, more range-bound behaviour than most liquid pairs.

This profile covers who trades the pair, the two central banks behind it, what tends to move it, how it behaves through the day, what it costs, a worked pip value example, its correlations, notable history and how to approach it as a beginner.

What AUD/NZD is and who trades it

AUD/NZD is a cross: it does not include the US dollar. The Australian dollar is the base currency and the New Zealand dollar the quote currency. When the pair rises, the Australian dollar (the "Aussie") is strengthening against the New Zealand dollar (the "kiwi"); when it falls, the kiwi is strengthening. The price is closely tied to two dollar pairs: AUD/NZD is approximately AUD/USD divided by NZD/USD. Our guide to currency pairs explains how crosses are derived.

The commercial ties are unusually close. Australia is one of New Zealand's largest trading partners, the two countries have had a free trade agreement (the Closer Economic Relations agreement) since 1983, and the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement has allowed citizens to live and work in each other's country since 1973. Businesses operate on both sides of the Tasman Sea, banks in New Zealand are largely Australian-owned, and people send wages and savings in both directions. Alongside those flows, macro funds use the pair to express a relative view on the two economies, and short-term traders are drawn by its tendency to oscillate within ranges.

For EU retail clients, AUD/NZD is capped at 20:1 leverage, because neither currency is on ESMA's list of USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD and CHF. Our guide to ESMA leverage limits explains the rules.

The two economies and central banks behind it

Australia and the RBA

The Reserve Bank of Australia sets the cash rate and targets inflation of 2 to 3%. Since 2024 it has held eight scheduled policy meetings a year, and since 2025 decisions have been made by a dedicated Monetary Policy Board. Statements are released at 14:30 Sydney time, roughly 03:30 UK time in the northern winter and 05:30 in the northern summer. Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas, and China is its largest trading partner.

New Zealand and the RBNZ

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand targets inflation of 1 to 3%, focusing on the 2% midpoint, and its Monetary Policy Committee sets the official cash rate (OCR). It makes seven scheduled decisions a year, announced at 14:00 New Zealand time, which is between about 01:00 and 03:00 UK time depending on the season. Four of them come with a full Monetary Policy Statement including a projected path for the OCR. New Zealand is a small, open economy and one of the world's largest dairy exporters; tourism and international education are important service exports, and China and Australia are among its biggest markets.

Because the two economies share so much, AUD/NZD is mostly a contest of differences: which central bank is expected to move faster, whose inflation is stickier, whose export prices are holding up. Our guide to central banks and interest rates explains why expectations matter more than the decisions themselves.

What typically moves AUD/NZD

Rate expectations

The gap between expected Australian and New Zealand interest rates has been the pair's most important driver. The two central banks have often moved in the same direction but at different speeds and from different starting points, and those differences are what move the cross. Because the RBNZ publishes its own projected OCR path, a change in that projection can move the pair as much as the decision itself. See interest rate differential and dovish versus hawkish signals.

Iron ore versus dairy

Australia's export earnings lean on iron ore, coal and LNG; New Zealand's on dairy, meat and other food. When industrial commodities and dairy prices move in different directions, the terms of trade of the two countries diverge, and the currencies can follow. The Global Dairy Trade auction, held every two weeks, gives a regular reading on dairy prices. These links are real but loose and can disappear for long periods when rates dominate.

Relative data surprises

Australian CPI, the monthly labour force survey and wage data, and New Zealand's quarterly CPI, labour market and GDP figures (Stats NZ usually publishes at 10:45 New Zealand time, which is the late evening of the previous day in the UK) all matter. What moves AUD/NZD is whether a surprise in one country changes expectations for that central bank relative to the other. See how economic data moves forex.

Global shocks, felt unevenly

A global growth scare or a sell-off in Chinese assets will usually hit both currencies. Because they often fall together, AUD/NZD may move far less than AUD/USD or NZD/USD on such days. But the effect is not always equal: a shock centred on industrial metals may hit the Australian dollar harder, while one centred on food prices or New Zealand-specific risks may hit the kiwi harder.

Its character: liquidity, sessions and volatility

AUD/NZD's home market is the Asia-Pacific session. Times below are UK time. New Zealand and Australia's south-eastern states move their clocks in the southern summer and the UK in the northern summer, so the gaps shift by up to two hours across the year.

• Wellington, Sydney and Tokyo (roughly 21:00 to 07:00 UK time): the most natural trading window. RBNZ and RBA decisions, New Zealand and Australian data and Chinese releases all land here.
• London morning (about 07:00 to 12:00 UK time): often active as European desks rebalance, but with little local news for either currency.
• New York (about 13:00 to 21:00 UK time): mainly reactive to US data and risk sentiment, which often affects both legs similarly.
• Late New York and rollover (around 21:00 to 22:00 UK time): typically the thinnest liquidity and widest spreads, just before Wellington opens.

The market hours tool shows these windows in your own time zone, and our guide to forex market hours and sessions explains the daylight saving shifts.

In terms of volatility, AUD/NZD has generally had smaller day-to-day moves than either AUD/USD or NZD/USD, because so many shocks affect both currencies at once. It has also spent long periods oscillating within ranges rather than trending strongly. That is a long-run tendency, not a rule. When the RBA and RBNZ diverge sharply, or when one economy receives a shock the other does not, the pair can break out of a range and trend for months. Treat "range-bound" as a description of past behaviour, not a promise.

Costs of trading AUD/NZD

This is where the pair's calm character becomes a trap. Spreads on AUD/NZD are typically wider than on the dollar majors, and they widen further around the daily rollover, at the Monday morning open in Wellington, around RBNZ and RBA decisions and during New Zealand and Australian public holidays. On a pair with a relatively narrow typical daily range, a given spread is a larger share of the move you are trying to capture. Short-term traders in particular should measure spread and commission against the pair's usual range, not against EUR/USD's. Our guide to how to compare trading costs shows how, and why spreads widen covers the timing.

The overnight swap reflects the difference between Australian and New Zealand interest rates plus the broker's markup. The two rates have often been close, so swaps on AUD/NZD have frequently been small on both sides after markups, or negative on both. When one rate is clearly above the other, being long the higher-yielding currency has tended to be the side that pays less or earns a little. Check your platform before holding for weeks; the swap calculator estimates the cost, and swap and overnight financing explains the mechanics.

Pip value: a worked example

On AUD/NZD a pip is 0.0001 and profit and loss accrue in New Zealand dollars, the quote currency. These numbers are illustrative.

• One standard lot is 100,000 Australian dollars. A pip is 100,000 times 0.0001 = 10 NZD.
• A mini lot (10,000 Australian dollars) is 1 NZD per pip; a micro lot (1,000 Australian dollars) is 0.10 NZD per pip.

Your platform converts that into your account currency. On a dollar account with NZD/USD at an illustrative 0.5900, 10 NZD is 5.90 USD. On a euro account with EUR/NZD at 1.9000, it is about 5.26 EUR. On a pound account with GBP/NZD at 2.2000, it is about 4.55 GBP.

Now a trade. You buy 0.5 lots (50,000 Australian dollars) at 1.1000 with a stop at 1.0960, 40 pips away. Each pip is worth 5 NZD, so the stop is 200 NZD, about 118 USD at an NZD/USD rate of 0.5900, before spread and swap. Margin at 20:1 on 50,000 Australian dollars is 2,500 AUD, about 1,625 USD at an illustrative AUD/USD rate of 0.6500. Notice how a modest stop in pips still needs a careful position size; the pip value calculator, margin calculator and position size calculator handle the conversions. Margin is collateral, not the maximum loss.

Correlations with other pairs

• AUD/USD and NZD/USD usually move strongly together, which is exactly why AUD/NZD often moves little. AUD/NZD captures the difference between them.
• AUD/NZD and AUD/USD tend to move in the same direction when the Australian dollar is the driver; AUD/NZD and NZD/USD tend to move in opposite directions when the kiwi is the driver.
• Risk-sensitive pairs such as AUD/JPY have usually had a weaker and less stable relationship with AUD/NZD than with either dollar pair, because global risk swings affect both legs.

So long AUD/USD and short NZD/USD together is essentially a long AUD/NZD position, sized at the dollar values of the two legs. Correlations change, sometimes abruptly when the two central banks diverge. Our guide to currency correlation shows how to measure them over a recent window.

Notable history

Two floats and a trade agreement

The Australian dollar was floated on 12 December 1983 and the New Zealand dollar in March 1985, ending managed exchange rates in both countries. The Closer Economic Relations trade agreement between the two took effect in 1983 and has since been extended to cover services and other areas, deepening the economic links that give the pair its character.

Inflation targeting

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 gave the RBNZ a price stability objective and, from 1990, a formal inflation target, the first in the world. Australia adopted inflation targeting in the early 1990s. The two frameworks remain similar, which is one reason their rate cycles have often moved in parallel.

The 2020 pandemic

In March 2020 both central banks cut their policy rates to 0.25% within days of each other and moved into unconventional policy. While AUD/USD and NZD/USD fell sharply in the initial sell-off, the near-identical response on both sides is a clear example of why the cross so often moves less than its two dollar legs.

Trading AUD/NZD as a beginner

• Do not mistake calm for safety. A pair with smaller typical moves tempts people into bigger positions. Size from your stop and the amount you are prepared to lose, not from the pair's reputation; see position sizing.
• Count the cost first. Spreads and swaps take a bigger bite out of small moves. Check whether your expected move is large relative to your costs.
• Do not assume the range will hold. Range-trading approaches stop working when the RBA and RBNZ diverge. Decide in advance what would tell you a range has broken; see support and resistance.
• Know when the news lands. RBNZ and RBA decisions and most data arrive in UK night-time hours. Holding through them is a deliberate risk; see gap risk and weekend risk.
• Respect leverage and the odds. Most retail CFD accounts lose money and leverage magnifies losses; see leverage and margin and why most retail CFD traders lose.

Frequently asked questions

Why is AUD/NZD often range-bound?

Because Australia and New Zealand are closely linked, sell to similar markets and have similar central bank frameworks, global news usually moves both currencies in the same direction. Much of it cancels out in the cross, leaving smaller and often oscillating moves. That has been a long-run tendency, and the pair has also had extended trends when the two economies diverged.

What moves AUD/NZD the most?

Usually the gap between expected RBA and RBNZ interest rates, followed by relative data surprises and diverging export prices, such as iron ore against dairy.

When is AUD/NZD most active?

During the Asia-Pacific session, roughly from late evening to early morning UK time, when New Zealand and Australian markets are open and their data and central bank decisions are released.

How much is a pip worth on AUD/NZD?

On a standard lot of 100,000 Australian dollars, a pip is 10 New Zealand dollars, which is usually roughly 4.5 to 6 units of pounds, euros or dollars depending on exchange rates at the time.

Why is the leverage cap 20:1?

ESMA's 30:1 cap applies only to pairs made of two of USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD and CHF. Neither the Australian nor the New Zealand dollar is on that list, so EU retail clients are capped at 20:1.