Aussie dips on RBA minutes

Australia's dollar dipped to a two-week low against its currency peers as the country's central bank indicated it would keep interest rates at a record low for longer.

AUD/USD slumped to 0.9265 overnight on Tuesday (20 May), the lowest for the exchange rate since the start of the month. Sterling was up over 0.6%, with GBP/AUD rising to 1.8135.

Pressure on the Aussie came as minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest policy meeting showed the bank intends to maintain rates at record lows for an extended period of time.

"The current accommodative stance of policy was likely to be appropriate for some time yet," the bank said after holding its benchmark rate at 2.5%.

Meanwhile, the US dollar was steady at a three-month low against the yen as sentiment weighed on the greenback ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting on Wednesday. The Bank of Japan begins a crucial two-day policy meeting today.

USD/JPY was flat at 101.4, close to its weakest level since the beginning of Februrary.

The euro was at a three-month peak against the yen, while it treaded water versus the dollar as EUR/USD remained just shy of the 1.37 mark.

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