Investing.com -- The Australian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday following a surprising decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep interest rates constant.
AUD/USD moved 0.66% or 0.0051 higher to 0.7817. Earlier on Tuesday, the pair reached a one-month high of 0.7842.
The pair was likely to gain support at 0.7797, the low from January 31 and resistance at 0.8225, the high from January 10.
Weak demand in domestic growth, a gradually higher unemployment rate and subdued labor costs influenced the RBA board's decision to leave the rate unchanged at 2.25%. If the RBA lowered interest rates, it would have marked the second consecutive meeting in which it eased monetary policy.
"Having eased monetary policy at the previous meeting, it was appropriate to hold interest rates steady for the time being," RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement. "Further easing of policy may be appropriate over the period ahead, in order to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation consistent with the target. The Board will further assess the case for such action at forthcoming meetings."
While the RBA has seen increases in credit lending to home buyers, it remains concerned by a sharp rise in home prices.
"The Bank is working with other regulators to assess and contain risks that may arise from the housing market," Mr. Stevens said in the statement. "In other asset markets, prices for equities and commercial property have risen, in part as a result of declining long-term interest rates."
The RBA made the announcement in advance of Wednesday's release of GDP data for the fourth quarter of 2014. Analysts have lowered forecasts of annual growth in the Australian economy to 2.3% down from previous estimates of 2.5.