Australia central bank sold net A$884 mln in Dec

    SYDNEY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of Australia 
(RBA) sold A$884 million ($730 million) of Australian dollars on 
a net basis on the spot foreign exchange market during December, 
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 wages, and that usually makes up the vast bulk of 
its spot transactions in any month. The RBA sold A$906 million 
for foreign currency on behalf of the government in December. 
    The central bank rarely intervenes directly and typically 
only when the market has become disorderly, as it did in October 
2008 following the failure of Lehman Brothers. 
    Following are the RBA's recent net Australian dollar 
transactions in A$ millions, its outstanding forward foreign 
exchange commitments and total holdings of official reserve 
assets (including foreign exchange holdings). 
              Net        Outstanding Fwd     Net    FX holdings 
          Transactions*   FX commitments   reserves   (US$)  
   DEC        +884          -9,143          50,341  (53,227)  
   NOV        +444         -10,299          49,584  (54,416) 
   OCT        +648          -9,326          47,851  (54,261) 
   SEP        +663          -4,797          48,174  (49,310) 
   AUG        +482          -5,842          49,878  (49,853)  
   JUL        +436          -6,263          49,213  (50,133) 
   JUN        +993          -4,511          47,347  (48,099) 
   MAY        +490          -5,709          45,953  (49,849)  
   APR        +382          -6,654          43,192  (51,681) 
   MAR        +577          -5,859          42,878  (50,813)  
   FEB        +328            +220          43,957  (44,940) 
   JAN        +393          -2,257          44,197  (48,285)  
   DEC        +752          -3,331          43,975  (49,123)  
   NOV        +414          -2,424          43,754  (48,169)  
   OCT        +275          -5,500          43,875  (51,241)  
   SEP        +396          -1,640          43,274  (46,998)   
   AUG        +351          -1,457          42,632  (45,416)  
   JUL        +528          -5,895          40,930  (49,288)   
   JUN      +1,256          -4,978          42,253  (48,133)  
   MAY        +589          -9,274          43,940  (51,762)  
   APR        +366          -5,512          42,126  (49,796)  
   MAR        +944          -7,653          42,286  (51,946)  
   FEB        +372          -8,019          41,078  (53,103) 
   JAN        +383          -5,439          41,332  (49,750) 
   DEC        +737          -3,696          42,390  (46,804) 
   NOV        +330          -1,066          43,768  (44,928) 
   OCT        +401          -2,404          42,540  (47,233) 
   SEP        +641             -94          44,768  (43,778)  
   AUG        +367          -1,317          42,437  (46,778) 
   JUL        +605             -60          40,655  (44,600) 
   JUN      +1,280            -128          41,002  (44,170) 
   MAY        +601            +614          40,963  (43,210) 
   APR        +570          +2,298          40,710  (41,869) 
   MAR        +699          +5,978          41,716  (36,932)  
   FEB        +414          +2,088          41,969  (40,530)  
   JAN        +326          +1,727          42,546  (40,509) 
 
    As the selling of Australian dollars is a contribution to 
foreign exchange reserves, this is shown as a plus figure in the 
table. Conversely, the purchase of Australian dollars is a minus 
figure. 
 
 (Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee) 
 ((Wayne.Cole@thomsonreuters.com)(612 9373 1813)(Reuters 
Messaging: wayne.cole.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: AUSTRALIA CENBANK/FOREX