The Australian dollar fell today after the Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes of its latest policy meeting. The fall was very brief, though, and the Aussie has recovered against its major rivals by now. Positive housing data likely helped the currency to some degree.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that housing prices rose 1.9% in the June quarter from the previous three months, exceeding market expectations of 1.2%. As for the RBA minutes, the central bank did not say anything new, showing that is content to leave interest rates at the present level for a while. The RBA complained about the appreciating Aussie, but acknowledged that the appreciation was driven at least in part by the weakness of the US dollar:
The appreciation of the Australian dollar over recent months, driven in part by a broad depreciation of the US dollar, was weighing on domestic growth and contributing to subdued inflationary pressure. A further appreciation of the Australian dollar would be expected to result in a slower pick-up in growth and inflation.
AUD/USD rose from 0.7958 to 0.7999 as of 12:09 GMT today. EUR/AUD fell from 1.5009 to 1.4960.
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