Bollard keeps rates unchanged and softens easing bias
Bollard left his official cash rate (OCR) unchanged at 2.5% and said he continues to expect to keep it "at or below the current level through until the latter part of 2010."
However, he didn't reiterate his July statement that "the OCR could still move modestly lower over the coming quarters."
The easing bias "is still there in a mild form. They've done it that way to try to temper the market response," says Westpac chief economist Brendan O'Donovan. "They're hammering the message that effectively rates will remain at these levels until the latter part of next year."
Market reaction was relatively muted with the currency broadly unchanged while longer-term wholesale interest rates crept up about three basis points.
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