Morning Briefing: RBA expected to stay put on cash rate

The Reserve Bank of Australia has been widely predicted to leave the official cash interest rate on hold at today’s board meeting... End of summer brings bright note for national auction market...

RBA expected to stay put on cash rate
The Reserve Bank of Australia has been widely predicted to leave the official cash interest rate on hold at today’s board meeting.

The cash rate has sat at 2% since May 2015 and all 31 financial commentators and experts in the latest edition of Finder’s monthly RBA Survey have predicted it will remain unchanged after today’s meeting.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital said the central bank is unlikely to make a rate move before it gets a clearer picture of the overall economy.

“Recent Reserve Bank commentary suggests a degree of comfort with the current level for the cash rate and while it retains an easing bias not enough has changed to suggest it is about to act on it,” Dr Oliver said.

“It's basically in wait and see mode regarding the jobs market and the potential impact of global financial turmoil,” he said.

End of summer brings bright note for national auction market
Australia’s auction market has ended summer on high note, with preliminary figures from CoreLogic RP Data putting the national clearance rate above 70% for the fourth straight week.

Last week’s preliminary national clearance rate currently sits at 72.4%, which is a slight strengthening on the previous week’s result of 71.8%.

The four-week stretch through February has been a stronger start to the year than was expected, and is the strongest performance put up by the country’s market since September 2015.

Melbourne was the nation’s best performing market over the week, with the Victorian capital home to the highest auction a volumes and clearance rate.


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