Australia's central bank sold A$736mn in March

SYDNEY: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sold A$736 million ($639 million) of Australian dollars on a net basis on the spot foreign exchange market during March, central bank data shows.

The RBA manages the forex needs of the government, which for example may need foreign currency to buy military hardware or pay embassy salaries, and that usually makes up the vast bulk of its spot transactions in any month.

The RBA sold A$763 million for foreign currency on behalf of the government in February.

The central bank rarely intervenes directly and typically only when the market has become disorderly, as it did in October 2008 following the failure of Lehman Brothers.