Reserve Bank of Australia rate decision and Australian dollar futures

What the RBA announces

The board sets the cash rate target to keep inflation within its target band and support full employment. Since the RBA's 2024 changes, the board meets eight times a year, each decision comes with a media release, and the Governor holds a press conference an hour later. The Statement on Monetary Policy, with the Bank's forecasts, is published quarterly.

Fewer meetings than before means each one carries more information, and the press conference gives the market a direct read of the reasoning.

What shapes the Australian dollar's reaction

• The decision and guidance against market pricing.
• Domestic inflation and labor data released before the meeting.
• Commodity prices, especially iron ore and energy, and demand from China, Australia's largest export market.
• Global risk sentiment: the Australian dollar has often moved with risk appetite.

Timing seen from the US

Sydney observes daylight saving in the southern summer, while the US does so in the northern summer. The gap between Sydney and New York therefore changes several times a year, and the 2:30 p.m. Sydney decision falls between late evening and around midnight in New York depending on the season. Relying on a calendar that converts times with the real time-zone rules avoids an easy mistake.

Order flow in the US night

At that hour, 6A trades on Globex with limited participation. The book is thin, and the decision tends to produce a sweep of several levels in the first seconds, then a slower adjustment during the press conference. On the footprint, the release bar shows the aggression; the following bars show whether size returns to absorb it.

Chinese data releases often land in the same Asian morning or in the days around the meeting, and a move in 6A can reflect both. Copper futures (HG) are a useful comparison: a move in 6A with no move in HG points more to the RBA than to China.

In Senzoukria

RBA rows appear in the News calendar under AU, which is off by default; enable it in the Countries filter. The event detail converts the Sydney time into Chicago and UTC. The top strip's Sydney session clock shows the local cash session, open 10:00 to 16:00 Sydney time, and whether it is open.

The announcement map colours zones by the impact and proximity of upcoming releases over 48 hours; clicking the Australia zone filters the calendar to its releases, which gathers the RBA and domestic data in one list.