Australian exports to China hit record

Before the RBA decision, Australia's trade data for March came in better than expected, a 300 million dollar surplus.

This is mainly thanks to a surge in Australian exports to China -- which totalled an unadjusted 7.6 billion US dollars, up 17 percent on the previous month. Iron ore exports jumped by as much as 36% in volume.

Because of the strong exports performance, plus healthy retail sales number for the quarter, most economists had not expected a rate cut today.