RBA Preview: Tone of the RBA commentary to be more upbeat - ANZ

Analysts at ANZ provide their thoughts on what to expect from tomorrow’s RBA monetary policy decision, the first for the New Year, due at 3.30 GMT.

Key Quotes:

“While the cash rate will remain on hold, we think the tone of the RBA commentary will be more upbeat after a positive run of data both domestically and globally. The higher AUD provides a bit of an offset and may see some refinement to the RBA's commentary around the currency, but its move in trade-weighted terms since November is minimal and commodity prices are stronger so we don't think there will be that much concern about the impact of the higher AUD/USD.

In terms of the RBA's forecasts, the one substantive change we are looking for is a lower unemployment forecast. We think it is likely that the Bank will reduce the 2018 year-end forecast from 5½% to 5¼% and predict 5% by the end of the forecast period.”