The Australian dollar remained firm against major currencies in early European trading on Tuesday as the market assessed the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) policy decision and comments from Governor Michele Bullock. The ZEW surveys from Germany and the Eurozone will be the focus of the European economic calendar. Later in the day, market participants will closely watch retail sales and industrial production data from the United States.
At its June policy meeting that ended on Tuesday, Reserve Bank of Australia board members decided to keep the official cash rate (OCR) unchanged at 4.35%, as widely expected. The central bank noted in its policy statement: “Inflation is coming back, but at a slower pace than previously expected and remains high. In a press conference after the meeting, its Governor Bullock said that policymakers discussed the question of whether to raise interest rates at the meeting and said they wanted to show that they were alert to upside risks to inflation. AUD/USD moved higher after the meeting and was last up 0.3% on the day at 0.6630.