Thursday, April 07, 2005
BoE keeps interest rates at 4.75%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the Bank's repo rate at 4.75%.
The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 20 April.
The most recent change in interest rates was an increase of 0.25 percentage points to 4.75% on 5 August 2004.
In line with the Committee's announcement last September, the timing of the General Election means that the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting will conclude on the morning of Monday 9 May, with the decision announced at 12 noon. The Inflation Report will be published as originally scheduled on Wednesday 11 May.
The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 20 April.
The most recent change in interest rates was an increase of 0.25 percentage points to 4.75% on 5 August 2004.
In line with the Committee's announcement last September, the timing of the General Election means that the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting will conclude on the morning of Monday 9 May, with the decision announced at 12 noon. The Inflation Report will be published as originally scheduled on Wednesday 11 May.
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic @ 12:03 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Australian rates decision surprises markets
The Australian dollar softened as the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised the market by opting to leave interest rates on hold at 5.5 per cent. Some 18 of 23 economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a further 25-basis point hike.
“The RBA seems to be implicitly recognising the risk of a repeat of the drop in consumer confidence that followed the hike in March,” said a senior currency strategist.
“The RBA has showed significant common sense. This is a welcome surprise. While it will help to take the wind out of the sails of the Australian dollar rally, the weakness in the US dollar remains a threat to Australian exporters generally.”
The Aussie dollar dipped to $0.7669 against the US dollar and A$2.4513 against sterling.
Some still expect the RBA to raise rates in June instead, but a dollar bloc analyst expected a future hike now depended on data flow, with first quarter inflation data due on April 27 now “looming large”.
“The RBA seems to be implicitly recognising the risk of a repeat of the drop in consumer confidence that followed the hike in March,” said a senior currency strategist.
“The RBA has showed significant common sense. This is a welcome surprise. While it will help to take the wind out of the sails of the Australian dollar rally, the weakness in the US dollar remains a threat to Australian exporters generally.”
The Aussie dollar dipped to $0.7669 against the US dollar and A$2.4513 against sterling.
Some still expect the RBA to raise rates in June instead, but a dollar bloc analyst expected a future hike now depended on data flow, with first quarter inflation data due on April 27 now “looming large”.
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic @ 3:53 PM 0 comments
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