The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release its quarterly Monetary Policy Statement (MPS), also known as the Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP), at 01:30 GMT on Friday.

The Aussie central bank’s two consecutive inactions join the latest retreat in inflation and unimpressive growth numbers highlight today’s RBA MPS as the key event for the AUD/USD traders. It’s worth noting that RBA Statement showed readiness to lift the rates if needed while pushing back the rate cut bias, which in turn makes today’s RBA SoMP more important for the pair traders.

Analysts at ANZ provide details of catalysts worth watching in the statement:

If the Reserve Bank moves in the near term (or even in the first half of 2024) higher interest rates are more likely than cuts. That message was conveyed in the post-meeting statement via: “Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe, but that will depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks”. Today’s Statement on Monetary Policy (SoMP) will provide additional detail on how the RBA is viewing the economy and its outlook