Australia's c.bank tapers QE but affirms lower-for-longer rates
Australia's central bank on Tuesday took its first step towards tempering its massive stimulus as employment proves far stronger than expected though actual rate hikes are likely to remain distant.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held the cash rate at 0.1% in a widely expected move and reiterated the need for the setting to remain unchanged until 2024 to help spark wage and inflation pressures.
It retained the April-2024 bond for its three-year yield target of 0.1%, as expected, and announced a third round of its quantitative easing programme albeit at a size smaller than the previous two rounds.
The RBA would continue purchasing government bonds past the present September deadline at a weekly pace of A$4 billion, rather than the current A$5 billion. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a "flexible" setting.
The Australian dollar was broadly unchanged after the decision, to be last up 0.6% at $0.7570.
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