The Australian dollar gained against its US counterpart today with the help of monetary policy minutes from the Australian central bank and the rally of crude oil. The currency was less successful in rising against its other major rivals. For example, it lost earlier gains versus the Japanese yen.
The Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes of its latest policy meeting today. The central bank had rather positive view on the nation’s economic performance:
In considering the stance of monetary policy, members noted that recent domestic data had, on balance, been positive and judged that there were reasonable prospects for growth to increase gradually over the forecast period while maintaining inflation close to target.
The optimistic comments helped the Aussie to carve out gains. Yet it is important to note that possibility of an interest rate cut remains present as the RBA said:
The Board noted that the outlook for continued low inflation may provide scope for easier monetary policy, should that be appropriate to lend further support to demand.
AUD/USD went up from 0.7134 to 0.7160 as of 10:46 GMT today, reaching the high of 0.7181 intraday. Meanwhile, AUD/JPY dropped from the opening level of 81.76 to 81.46, retreating from the daily high of 82.42.
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