Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate mixed following RBA minutes

Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate graph

The Australian Dollar was trading firmer against the Pound but softer against the US Dollar on Monday after the Reserve Bank of Australia suggested that interest rates will be left unchanged for an extended period of time.

The Pound was softer against the majority of its most traded peers due to a lack of domestic economic data and as investors took a wait and see approach to tomorrow’s unemployment data and monetary policy committee meeting minutes.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said in its minutes for its March 4th policy meeting that interest rates will be left unchanged due to signs that the low rate is supporting growth in the Australian economy and is helping stave off a downturn caused by a slowdown in mining investment.

“The board had judged that it was prudent to leave the cash rate unchanged, while noting that the cash rate could remain at its current level for some time if the economy was to evolve broadly as expected. There were further signs that low interest rates were providing support to activity, the most prudent course is likely to be a period of stability in interest rates.” said the minutes.

After the minutes were first released the ‘Aussie’ came close to a three-month high against the US Dollar before falling back to trade at a steady rate of 90 cents. The currency also continues to find support from yesterday’s move by Westpac to alter its forecast for additional rate easing. Instead it now predicts that there will be a rate hike at the end of 2015.

The ‘Aussie’ remains under some pressure from events in Ukraine but risk sentiment has improved after the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia were widely seen as moderate.