Aussie had a mixed day, weaker in the morning ahead of the RBA decision, but strengthened late as the RBA decision and Statement were scrutinised. Mixed data in the morning with a weaker than expected Retail Sales number for April, but that was outweighed by a solid Net Exports Contribution to GDP for Q1, ahead of tomorrow’s GDP data. AUD had gone into the data around $0.9240, touched $0.9230 and making the day’s lows, before seeing the BoP data and bouncing to $0.9250, but then weakening back to $0.9240 with the release of the final May HSBC Manufacturing PMI in China. Short covering from there on, the AUD made it’s way back to $0.9250 by the time the RBA rolled around, and a lack of jawboning from the Statement saw $0.9260 then $0.9270 touched ($0.9271 the session high). The Statement again mentioned the AUD was historically high, but added the line “particularly given the further decline in commodity prices”, which didn’t seem to appease the Aussie shorts enough with no inkling that a rate cut could be on the cards, and the pair now sits just below the day’s highs with Europe coming in, up 17bps at $0.9263
