Australian dollar fell against most major rivals after the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy decisions. 

The RBA decided to hold interest rates unchanged at 3.6% as expected by analysts. 

It's clear the RBA is starting to slow down the pace of policy tightening as inflation slows down as well.

Today, AUD/USD fell 0.5% to 0.6752 as of 20:30 GMT.

The Dollar

The dollar index fell 0.5% to 101.6 as of 18:52 GMT, with a session-high at 102.2, and a low 101.4. 

In a surprise move, OPEC and allies including Russia announced voluntary production cuts amounting to 1.65 million bpd starting May and until the end of the year.

The step came outside the usual timeline for the global alliance to review market conditions, which was supposed to happen today, Monday.

That cut adds to a previous cut agreed upon in October 2022 and amounting to 2 million bpd.

After the move, Goldman Sachs raised its estimates for Brent prices to $95 by the end of the year, and $100 a barrel in 2024.

A recent opinion poll by Fed Watch put a 60% probability of a 0.25% rate hike by the Federal Reserve in May, up from 50% on Friday.

Otherwise, earlier US data showed the JOLTS Job Openings index with a 9.931 million openings in February, down from 10.563 million openings in January, while analysts expected 10.49 million.

Loonie

The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% against its US counterpart to 0.7436 as of 20:38 GMT. 

Gold prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar lost ground against most major rivals while risk appetite wanes, with the precious metal extending its gains above $2,000 an ounce. 

Fed and Inflation

In a surprise move, OPEC and allies including Russia announced voluntary production cuts amounting to 1.65 million bpd starting May and until the end of the year.

The step came outside the usual timeline for the global alliance to review market conditions, which was supposed to happen today, Monday.

That cut adds to a previous cut agreed upon in October 2022 and amounting to 2 million bpd.

After the move, Goldman Sachs raised its estimates for Brent prices to $95 by the end of the year, and $100 a barrel in 2024.

A recent opinion poll by Fed Watch put a 60% probability of a 0.25% rate hike by the Federal Reserve in May, up from 50% on Friday.

Otherwise, earlier US data showed the JOLTS Job Openings index with a 9.931 million openings in February, down from 10.563 million openings in January, while analysts expected 10.49 million.

Otherwise, the dollar index fell 0.5% to 101.6 as of 18:52 GMT, with a session-high at 102.2, and a low at  101.4. 

Gold spot prices rose 1.9%, or $40 as of 18:53 GMT to $2,038.3 an ounce.

Oil prices rose in European trade on track for the fourth straight profit, with US crude almost hitting three-month highs, while Brent scaled four-week highs after new restrictions announced by OPEC+ this weekend. 

Such unexpected restrictions in OPEC+ output could send the market into deficit during the second half of the year, in turn raising global outlook for oil prices this year. 

Global Prices

US crude rose 1.2% to $81.36 a barrel, while Brent added 1.25% to $85.84, the highest since March 7, with a session-low at $84.79. 

US crude spiked 6.25% yesterday, the largest profit since March 2022, marking three-month highs at $81.51, while Brent added 6.3%. 

New Restrictions 

In a surprise move, OPEC and allies including Russia announced voluntary production cuts amounting to 1.65 million bpd starting May and until the end of the year.

The step came outside the usual timeline for the global alliance to review market conditions, which was supposed to happen today, Monday.

That cut adds to a previous cut agreed upon in October 2022 and amounting to 2 million bpd.

After the move, Goldman Sachs raised its estimates for Brent prices to $95 by the end of the year, and $100 a barrel in 2024. 

Dollar tumbled in European trade against a basket of major rivals, hitting two-month lows following shocking US manufacturing data for March.

Such data hurt chances of a Federal Reserve 0.25% rate hike in May and boosted chances of a US rate hike later this year.

The Index

The dollar index fell 0.2% to 101.81, the lowest since February 3, with a session-low at 102.27.

The index lost 0.5% yesterday, the largest loss since March 22 following US manufacturing data.

Terrible Data

Recent data showed US manufacturing sector tumbled to three-year lows in a new sign of recession in the first quarter of the year.

The ISM manufacturing PMI tumbled to 46.3 in March, the worst since June 2020, missing estimates of 47.5, and down from 47.7 in February.

Such data slashed US treasury yields as investors now expect policy easing later this year or earlier next year.

Fed Rates

Following the data, pricing for no change in Federal Reserve monetary policies at the May meeting rose to 44%, while pricing for a 0.25% rate hike fell to 56%.

And now markets expect the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in September, maintaining interest rates at 4.25% by December.

Upcoming Data

Now investors await important US labor data later today, with the JOLTS job openings index expected to show 10.49 million openings in February, down from 10.82 million in January.