RBA Froze Rates at 4.35% as Bullock Warned on Inflation. AUD Bulls Stalled.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its policy rate at 4.35% on Tuesday, refusing to rule out further hikes as trimmed mean inflation remains at 3.5%.
News commentary and opinion. Not financial advice.
What happened
The Reserve Bank of Australia Board kept the official cash rate target unchanged at 4.35%.
The policy verdict marks the eighth consecutive meeting with Australian borrowing costs at twelve-year highs.
Third-quarter trimmed mean consumer price inflation printed at 3.5% year-on-year.
Core price pressures remain substantially above the central bank’s 2% to 3% target corridor.
Governor Michele Bullock reiterated that policymakers are not ruling out additional rate hikes.
Bullock highlighted resilient domestic labor markets and persistent services inflation as primary concerns.
Spot AUD/USD spiked toward 0.6590 before retreating to 0.6580 as broad dollar strength persisted.
Australian three-year sovereign bond yields advanced six basis points to 4.12%.
Primary source: Reserve Bank of Australia Monetary Policy Decision, November 2026
The roast
Retail trading forums spent weeks promoting aggressive Australian dollar breakout trades.
Our analysis of Martin Place communications remains realistic.
Hawkish forward guidance without an actual interest rate hike rarely creates sustained currency rallies.
Australia’s cash rate at 4.35% still sits below US policy rates of 4.00% when factoring risk premia.
Brokers heavily promoted AUD crosses ahead of the announcement to collect wide retail spreads.
Traders who bought the immediate press release spike got trapped by afternoon selling pressure.
Governor Bullock delivered firm words, but words do not pay currency carry costs.
Until the RBA actually delivers another rate hike, upside momentum in AUD/USD will remain limited.
Following actual cash rate differentials produces far better results than trading central bank rhetoric.
Why it matters to traders
- International interest rate differentials between Sydney and Washington continue guiding AUD/USD order flow.
- Read our broker intelligence guide to monitor institutional positioning across major currency crosses.
- Central bank rate decisions trigger wide bid-ask spread expansion across Asia-Pacific trading hours.
- Learn how liquidity drops affect execution quality in our slippage and latency guide.
- Verify official policy statements directly on the Reserve Bank of Australia website.
- Implement disciplined risk boundaries for exotic and commodity pairs using our position sizing playbook.
- Avoid overexposure on leveraged currency swings by mastering our leverage and margin guide.
Disclaimer: This is news commentary and reflects the opinion of ForexRoasted. It is not financial or investment advice. Trading CFDs and Forex involves substantial risk and is not for every investor.