Daily Net Foreign Exchange Transactions

\n\nThe historical data in this table are sourced from Becker C and M Sinclair\n(2004), :Profitability of Reserve Bank Foreign Exchange Operations:\nTwenty Years After the Float-C/, RB Research Discussion Paper No\n2004-06. Updates to the data are published annually with a one-year lag.\n\nIt is not appropriate to use the :Market-C/ series as a proxy for\nforeign exchange market intervention. The RB engages in spot or forward\ntransactions with dealers in the market virtually every day. Most of these\ntransactions are not intended to influence the exchange rate. Rather, they\noccur to cover orders for foreign exchange from clients such as the Australian\nGovernment. When the RB sells foreign exchange to a client, it has the choice\nof meeting this out of its holdings of foreign exchange or buying the\nequivalent amount of foreign exchange in the market. Most of the time it does\nthe latter, though even then the timing of the sale and purchase may not\ncoincide precisely. The RB can also engage in foreign exchange transactions\nwith counterparties other than dealers as a means of covering client orders.\n\nDaily net foreign exchange transactions, net sales (-) and purchases (+), are\nreported according to the date on which the trade took place. This is in\ncontrast to the monthly transactions data in Table A.4, which are reported\naccording to the day on which settlement took place. Another difference to\nTable A.4 is that interest received on holdings of foreign assets is not\nincluded.\n\naMarketa transactions are foreign exchange transactions against the Australian\ndollar (excluding foreign exchange swaps) undertaken by the RB with\nauthorised foreign exchange dealers in Australia or banks overseas.\n\naGovernment and other counterpartiesa transactions include the RBAas foreign\nexchange transactions with the Australian Government, outright transactions\nwith other central banks and international financial institutions that are not\nintended to affect the exchange rate, and transactions with clients other than\nthe Australian Government.\n\n