Minutes of August 2014 Monetary Policy Meeting of the Reserve Bank Board are due for publication at 0130GMT.
Analyst at Westpac, Sean Callow (Westpac’s senior currency strategist) says:
- The accompanying statement (here and here) to the decision on August 5 was brief and very similar to July’s
- But the Statement on Monetary Policy (which followed 3 days later … here and here) included 0.25% cuts to both 2014 and 2015 GDP forecasts
Callow also notes that in the minutes to the July minutes there was plenty of comment on FX,
- That the AUD had risen 8% YTD despite lower bulk commodity prices
- “This implied resignation to AUD overvaluation but the familiar line should be repeated that the ‘exchange rate remained high by historical standards, particularly given the declines in key commodity prices.’
Callow also notes RBA governor Stevens is talking tomorrow (in a testimony to a parliamentary committee), where he may be a bit more inclined to try to talk the currency down.
