The AUD/USD pair maintains its bearish momentum, extending its losing streak even after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) implemented a 25-basis-point rate hike on Tuesday. During Wednesday’s Asian session, the pair is trading lower, hovering around 0.6420. The negative bias seems to persist as the RBA adopts a dovish stance in its rate statement.
The RBA’s concern revolves around the slowing Australian economy, marked by subdued consumer spending in the face of persistent inflation risks. The central bank appears less certain about the necessity of further rate hikes, adopting a data-dependent approach. Nevertheless, there remains skepticism about whether upcoming data releases will trigger additional rate adjustments by the RBA.
After maintaining the benchmark interest rate for four consecutive meetings, the RBA executed a policy tightening, raising the Official Cash Rate (OCR) from 4.10% to its highest level in 12 years at 4.35%, in line with widespread expectations. This decision by the RBA may have been influenced by recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which revealed a monthly increase of 5.6% in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
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