Australian Dollar Falls As RBA Keeps Policy Unchanged

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar came under pressure against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe has kept the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 3.6 percent. The outcome of the meeting matched economists' expectations.

Australia's central bank decided to leave its key interest rate unchanged after a cumulative 350 basis points increase since last May.

The board observed that monetary policy operates with a lag and that the full effect of this substantial increase in interest rates is yet to be felt.

The board decided to hold interest rates to provide additional time to assess the impact of the previous hikes to date and the economic outlook.

Nonetheless, the board said it expects that some further tightening of monetary policy may well be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target.

Meanwhile, traders focus on the RBA Governor Philip Lowe's comments, scheduled for early Wednesday.

In the Asian session today, the Australian dollar fell to 0.6758 against the U.S. dollar and 89.70 against the yen, from a recent near 1-1/2-month high of 0.6793 and near a 3-week high of 90.17, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.65 against the greenback and 86.00 against the yen.

Against the euro, the aussie slipped to 1.6117 from a recent high of 1.6044. The aussie may find its support level around the 1.63 area.

Against the Canada and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie edged down to 0.9081 and 1.0729 from recent highs of 0.9123 and 1.0779, respectively. On the downside, the aussie is likely to find its support around 0.89 against the loonie and 1.06 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank publishes consumer expectation survey results at 4:00 am ET.

At 5:00 am ET, Eurostat is slated to release euro area producer price data for February. Producer price inflation is seen easing to 13.3 percent from 15.0 percent in January.

At 5:15 am ET, External Member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Silvana Tenreyro gives keynote speech at The Scottish Economic Society Economic Policy Lecture "Quantitative Easing and Quantitative Tightening," in London, U.K.

In the New York session, Canada building permits and trade data, both for February, U.S. factory orders data for February

At 10:30 am ET, Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill delivers a speech at the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies Public Lecture "Inflation, persistence & Monetary policy," in Geneva, Switzerland.

At 1:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook gives introductory remarks before the "Exploring Careers in Economics - Spring 2023" event hosted by the Federal Reserve, in Washington D.C.

At 6:45 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester speaks before the Money Marketeers of New York University Inc., in New York, U.S.