SYDNEY: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sold A$489 million ($460 million) of Australian dollars on a net basis on the spot foreign exchange market during May, central bank data shows.

The RBA manages the forex needs of the government, which for example may need foreign currency to buy military hardware or pay embassy wages, and that usually makes up the vast bulk of its spot transactions in any month.

The RBA sold A$524 million for foreign currency on behalf of the government in May.

The central bank rarely intervenes directly and typically only when the market has become disorderly, as it did in October 2008 following the failure of Lehman Brothers.