When is the RBA Meeting Minutes and how could it affect AUD/USD?

Early Tuesday morning in Asia, at 01:30 GMT, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release its minutes of the latest monetary policy meeting held in May.

The Australian central bank surprised markets by announcing a 0.25% rate hike earlier in the week, after pausing its 10-time rate hike trajectory in the previous monetary policy meeting. However, the policymakers have been trying to convince markets that they can defend the hawkish rate lift cycle, which in turn makes today’s RBA Minutes more important for the AUD/USD pair traders.

Apart from looking at the catalysts that helped RBA to surprise markets in the last monetary policy meetings, the prospects of the policy pivot will also be important for the AUD/USD pair traders to watch in today’s RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes.

How could the minutes affect AUD/USD?

AUD/USD grinds higher after bouncing off a two-week low the previous day. In doing so, the Aussie pair cheers the broad US Dollar weakness, as well as the hawkish hopes from the RBA Minutes, not to forget upbeat PBOC updates. Adding strength to the upside momentum is the dovish Fed talks and downbeat US data.

Given the recent divergence between the RBA and the Fed’s actions, today’s RBA Minutes will be closely watched for linkages on future moves of the Aussie central bank. Should the RBA manages to defend its recent hawkish play, as well as suggest some more in the pipeline, the AUD/USD prices may have further upside to trace.

Technically, a clear bounce off the 12-day-old ascending support line directs AUD/USD bulls toward the 200-DMA hurdle of around 0.6720.

Key Notes

AUD/USD bulls flirt with 0.6700 ahead of RBA Minutes, China/US data amid US debt ceiling jitters

AUD/USD Price Analysis: Bulls are holding the fort, eye 0.6720

About the RBA minutes

The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia meetings are published two weeks after the interest rate decision. The minutes give a full account of the policy discussion, including differences of view. They also record the votes of the individual members of the Committee. Generally speaking, if the RBA is hawkish about the inflationary outlook for the economy, then the markets see a higher possibility of a rate increase, and that is positive for the AUD.