News Australia

The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates by 50 basis points in an unexpected move that should provide welcome relief to many homeowners. The reduction takes the official cash rate to 3.75 percent. Damian Smith CEO of financial comparison site RateCity called the RBA’s decision "a very big move". "They haven’t moved rates [...]

  Australia’s housing sector has called on the reserve bank to deliver a 50 basis point interest rate cut after a survey showed new home sales have fallen to their lowest level in more than a decade. The Housing Industry Association (HIA), which represents the residential building industry, says new home sales dropped 9.4 per [...]

The board of the Reserve Bank of Australia has left the official cash rate at 4.25 percent for the second month in a row. The move was widely expected with inflation at the bottom of the RBA’s target band of 2-3 percent and global economic conditions improving. However, the news may not be met with [...]

  The Board of the Reserve Bank meets tomorrow. In July last year Westpac forecast that the next easing cycle would total 100bps beginning near year’s end. Subsequently, the Board decided to ease the overnight cash rate by 25bps in both November and December. Based on current information, we continue to expect a further 50bps [...]

The Reserve Bank has decided to keep interest rates on hold, despite fears of the Australian economy struggling outside the mining sector. With instability in the European markets and concerns over a double-dip recession in the US, the RBA decided to keep official interest rates at 4.75 percent. RateCity CEO Damian Smith said the decision [...]

Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 per cent in July, official figures show. The June figure was an unrevised 4.9 per cent. Total employment was steady at 11.450 million in the month. Full-time employment fell by 22,200 to 8.055 million in July and part-time employment was up 22,100 at 3.395 million. The July participation rate [...]

The Australian dollar is trading higher, after the US Federal Reserve said interest rates could stay at their record lows until mid-2013. Around midday, the dollar was trading at 103.21 US cents, up from 102.25 cents on Tuesday afternoon. RBC Capital Markets currency strategist Michael Turner said the Australian dollar rallied around three US cents [...]

The clouds of economic gloom gathering over the US and Europe could have a silver lining for Australian borrowers – a double rate cut is now predicted for next month. After global shares sustained $2.5 trillion losses last week and US government had its credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s late on Friday (US [...]

Australian shares have plummeted to levels not seen since the global financial crisis as investors come to the realisation that major world economies are headed for another downturn. The local market mirrored massive falls on Wall Street and in Europe, shedding over $50 billion on Friday, and around $100 billion in the week, the worst [...]

The Australian dollar was almost two US cents lower at noon as a combination of weak data, locally and in the US, and the central bank keeping the cash rate on hold weigh on the currency At 1200 AEST on Wednesday, it was trading at 107.04 US cents, down from 108.90 cents on Tuesday. The [...]