ASIC investigates possible RBA cash rate leak
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The corporate watchdog will investigate a suspicious spike in the value of the Aussie dollar one minute before the Reserve Bank announced its cash rate decision yesterday.
The spike came at 2:29pm yesterday, one minute before the RBA announced the official rate, suggesting currency traders had advanced knowledge of the RBA’s decision.
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Responding to speculation that the RBA had published the information early, a spokesperson stated: “The Reserve Bank has verified that the monetary policy decision was published at exactly 2.30 pm and according to the appropriate procedures.
“The Australian Securities and Investments Commission [ASIC] has been made aware of the matter and is looking into it.”
The premature spike is particularly suspicious because the majority of currency traders and economists expected the RBA to cut the cash rate, which would have seen the value of the dollar drop, not rise.