The Australian dollar jumped over a cent while bill and bond futures were hammered after talk that local interest rate hikes may be raised in November and December resurfaced once more. The Aussie spiked and bill futures slid after central bank watcher Terry McCrann wrote the RBA is almost certain to hike rates by 25 basis points each in November and December.
He offered no sources, but still the market drove the Aussie up to $0.8748 on Tuesday, from $0.8631 seen here late Monday. Traders said exporters and Japanese retail investors were among the biggest buyers of the Aussie. "The Aussie lifted on heightened rate hike speculation," said Greg Gibbs, an analyst at RBS.
Indeed, he was not sure the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would even wait until November to raise rates. "We still see the risk of a move on October 6 as a high probability," Gibbs said. The RBA holds its next policy meeting on October 6, and markets are betting only on a one-in-five chance of a rate rise.