From Nomura (Charles St. Arnaud) on yesterday’s RBA announcement, and looking forward to Friday’s Statement on Monetary Policy:

  • The RBA decision to keep the policy rate unchnaged is consistent with Nomura’s view that the RBA “has a neutral policy stance and is unlikely to change its policy rate any time soon”
  • The accompanying statement shows “the RBA has maintained its cautiously positive outlook on the economy, despite the expected drag from resources investment and public spending”

Arnaud continues:

  • “in light of the continued weakness in commodity prices relevant for the Australian economy, the RBA continued to express discomfort that AUD is diverging too much from fundamentals”

Nomura maintains their view the next RBA move will be H1 2015 rate hike

Also, they say the Statement on Monetary Policy on Friday “will provide more details on the RBA’s economic outlook”

Note: The RBA’s Statement on Monetary Policy, that we will get on Friday is issued 4 times a year. It sets out the Bank’s assessment of current economic conditions, both domestic and international, along with the outlook for Australian inflation and output growth. A number of boxes on topics of special interest are also published.