Live: Poll of economists expects RBA to leave cash rate unchanged Tuesday
A poll of 37 of Australia's leading economists found all expect the RBA to leave its key cash rate unchanged after its meeting on Tuesday. Follow live.
Economic experts polled by The Australian expect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to maintain its current key cash rate during their meeting later this week. The market closed the day virtually unchanged, with the index falling just eight points to 9,263 points. Among sectors, Materials led gains, up 0.9%, followed by Energy at 0.8% and Technology at 0.6%.
Industrials were the only sector to decline, dropping 1.6%. Companies like Liontown and Telix Pharmaceuticals showed positive movement, up 9.3% and 7.7% respectively. In contrast, 4DMedical and ResMed Inc fell by 9.1% and 8.3% respectively. The Australian dollar held steady at 70.31 US cents. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched investigations into claims from the recent Four Corners series "Duped: Food Exposed," which alleged potentially misleading consumer conduct.
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, welcomed the watchdog's actions. Stanford University researchers have created self-replicating viruses using AI-generated genetic codes for the first time. While this breakthrough could lead to medical advancements, it also raises concerns about potential misuse for bioweapon creation.
Barclays analysts remain bullish on the Australian dollar, projecting 0.72 by year-end, citing commodity tailwinds and a resilient US dollar. Meanwhile, Westpac's chief economist, Luci Ellis, believes the housing market might be experiencing a brief "air pocket," but fears a crash due to tight monetary policy and tax changes are overstated.
The RBA is expected to keep the cash rate unchanged at their August meeting, aligning with a more optimistic inflation outlook. Alan Joyce, a former Qantas CEO, discussed his tenure at the airline, reflecting on its reputation damage and the "ghost flights" controversy. Coles, the supermarket giant, plans to offshoring some of its 115,000 jobs to India to maintain competitiveness amid increasing global competition and technological advancements.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
