Intraday timing of AUD intervention by the Reserve Bank of Australia : Evidence from Microstructural Analyses

We add a new dimension to the debate of the efficacy and the timing of a central bank's currency intervention. Utilising an enhanced proxy for intervention and high frequency tick-by-tick quote data, we estimate the approximate intraday timing of interventions by the Reserve Bank of Australia in the both the onshore and offshore USD/AUD markets for the period of 1996 to 2006. We detect interventions in the late onshore period, early European market, and again in the early New York market. We further find evidence to suggest the RBA choose those hours of higher volume, lower volatility and lower bid/ask spreads to conduct its non-intervention transactions. These results have important implications not only for institutions and corporations with a need to transact in the market, but also for hedge funds and other traders that may profit by trading against the RBA