Aussie Goes Higher as Investors Expect Interest Rates Hike

The Australia dollar gained against the US dollar and the Japanese yen after the minutes of the central bank’s monetary policy meeting suggested that an increase of the interest rates is possible “at some point”.
The Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia said:

Members viewed the current mildly restrictive stance of monetary policy as remaining appropriate, with recent rises in the exchange rate likely to have further tightened conditions, particularly in some sectors of the economy. Members noted that the significant divergences between different sectors of the economy presented challenges for policy-making, but that monetary policy had to be set for the needs of the overall economy. In this respect, members judged that if economic conditions continued to evolve as expected, higher interest rates were likely to be required at some point if inflation was to remain consistent with the medium-term target. Members agreed to continue to assess carefully the evolving outlook for growth and inflation at future meetings.

The future may hold hope, but the present is not so kind for growth-related currencies, including the Australian dollar, as stocks and commodities resumed decline. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index subtracted 0.5 percent, while the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials went down 0.57 percent.
AUD/USD traded at 1.0620 today as of 00:26 GMT after rising on the previous session from 1.0553 to 1.0625. EUR/AUD traded near 1.3409 after the decline from 1.3408 to 1.3393. AUD/JPY traded at about 86.42, following the advance from 85.24 to 86.50.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Australian Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.