Yesterday the RBA Rate Decision was as expected and the rate was held at 2.5%.
The accompanying notes re-iterated that monetary policy is appropriate for sustainable growth and that the RBA sees a likely period of interest rate stability. Economists have described the rate decision and accompanying notes as a non-event and very little volatility was experienced for the Aussie.
Plenty of data was released around the globe last night. The figures of interest included employment data out of Germany which decreased by 0.1% from February’s figure, down to 6.7%. This allowed the Euro to strengthen and claw back some ground that had been lost over the previous week, especially against the AUD.
Manufacturing PMI data out of China and Europe proved to be in line with expectations yesterday while last night in the UK and Switzerland, the figures were slightly weaker than anticipated.
Looking forward to tomorrow, we have Non Manufacturing PMI data out of China prior to the European Central Rate Decision. Expectations are that the rate will be held again at 0.25%. The most potentially influential data associated with the Greenback will be released on Friday when the Unemployment Rate and Non-Farm Payrolls figures respectively are announced.
It appears as though the Aussies second wind may have to come off the back of poor economic data from other economies, rather than from strong domestic data. Talk of the Aussie Dollar reaching levels in excess of 0.95 US cents have been increasing over the past week, but in the meantime it is having a breather as it awaits its’ second wind to attempt a rally toward the aforementioned figure.