The Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) had been expected to hold its key rate steady at today’s meeting. This had been a majority view among analysts, including ourselves, until recently, but as of late, the consensus majority has shifted in favour of a 100bp rate cut today.
Australian Dollar (AUD) could first test 0.6540 against US Dollar (USD) before the risk of a pullback increases. In the longer run, bias remains on the upside, but it remains to be seen if AUD can break clearly above 0.6555, UOB Group's FX analysts Quek Ser Leang and Peter Chia note.
EUR/USD continues to lose ground after pulling back from a two-month high of 1.1495, marked on June 5, currently trading around 1.1440 during the Asian hours on Friday.