RBA chief tempers rate rise bets as yields, $A jump

Cecile Lefort and Jonathan Shapiro

Feb 3, 2026 – 6.32pm

The Australian dollar and bond yields jumped after the Reserve Bank unanimously voted to raise the cash rate for the first time since 2023, though traders were left in the dark as to just how much further the central bank would go to bring inflation under control.

The decision by all nine members of the RBA board to raise the cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.85 per cent propelled the Aussie above US70¢, nearing a three-year peak of US70.94¢. The expectation by the market was that at least one member would vote to keep rates on hold.

Cécile Lefort is a markets reporter based in the Sydney newsroom. Cécile worked in New York and Hong Kong writing about global capital markets.

Jonathan Shapiro writes about banking and finance, specialising in hedge funds, corporate debt, private equity and investment banking. He is based in Sydney.