Aussie dollar shoots upward on RBA rates beat

Reuters scored a stunning 18-second win over Bloomberg on the Royal Bank of Australia’s shock decision on March 3 to leave interest rates unchanged. For markets, it was probably the most difficult Australian interest rate decision to call in months. After vacillating for days between a rate cut and no change, the market finally had settled on a cut, probably 50 basis points, the day before the announcement. As the seconds ticked down to the decision, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s usual electronic system for delivering the decision collapsed. Cool in the face of calamity, Reuters spotted the decision arrive by email and ripped out the first news alert way ahead of the opposition. Bill futures tumbled 30 ticks even before Bloomberg had sent its alert, while the Aussie dollar shot up a full cent as investors scrambled to price in a slower pace of future easing and scale back the likely floor for rates.