Australian Dollar Resists Shocks! Interest Rate Hike Signals Provide Strong Support
The Australian dollar held steady at around US$0.669 per dollar in Friday's trading and is on track for a moderate weekly gain. The currency is supported by growing market expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is still likely to raise interest rates in the near future. Expectations of higher interest rates keep the Australian dollar attractive to investors.
This support was further strengthened after the Commonwealth Bank of Australia raised its home mortgage rate by 0.7 percentage points on Thursday. This increase brought the two-year fixed rate to a record low of 5.79%. Macquarie Bank also raised its fixed loan rate by 0.25 percentage points across all tenors. This move follows similar increases by other major banks in December, signaling that interest rates are likely to remain high for longer.
The market now prices a 27% chance of a quarter-point rate hike at the RBA's February meeting, with that probability rising to around 76% in May. Furthermore, the Australian dollar also received support from strengthening global stocks, particularly Australian stocks, which rose for five consecutive sessions and approached a two-month high. This condition strengthened positive sentiment toward the Australian currency. (az)
Source: Newsmaker.id
