The Australian dollar sank during the Tuesday’s session. While the policy meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia did not provide any surprise, macroeconomic data released from Australia was unexpectedly poor.
The RBA kept its key interest rate at 2%, surprising no one, but mentioned again that there is “scope for easier policy, should that be appropriate to lend support to demand.” The negative surprise came from economic indicators as the Australian trade balance deficit increased while economists had predicted it to fall. Furthermore, the Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index fell below the neutral 50.0 level, indicating contraction of the services sector.
AUD/USD dropped 1.1% from 0.7602 to 0.7542 as of 12:59 GMT today. AUD/JPY plunged 1.5% from 84.62 to 83.39.
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