SYDNEY--Australia's central bank left interest rates unchanged for the third-straight month, signaling confidence a yearlong string of cuts is reviving activity across the economy.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA, has lowered rates six times since November 2011 to help insulate the resource-rich nation from weakness in the world economy, and to stoke other sectors as resources investment slows down this year. The last rate cut, in December, took the benchmark target to 3%, a low previously reached in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Most economists had expected rates to remain unchanged. Financial markets currently are pricing in one more cut this year.
"There are a number of indications that the substantial easing of monetary policy during late 2011 and 2012 is having an expansionary effect on the economy," Gov. Glenn Stevens said Tuesday. "Further such effects can be expected to emerge over time."
Data from property research firm RP Data-Rismark published earlier Tuesday showed capital-city house prices rose at their fastest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, government data last month showed retail sales rose sharply in January from December, signaling a pickup in consumer confidence and spending, while more jobs were added to the economy in February than in any month over the past decade.
-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
The Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA, has lowered rates six times since November 2011 to help insulate the resource-rich nation from weakness in the world economy, and to stoke other sectors as resources investment slows down this year. The last rate cut, in December, took the benchmark target to 3%, a low previously reached in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Most economists had expected rates to remain unchanged. Financial markets currently are pricing in one more cut this year.
"There are a number of indications that the substantial easing of monetary policy during late 2011 and 2012 is having an expansionary effect on the economy," Gov. Glenn Stevens said Tuesday. "Further such effects can be expected to emerge over time."
Data from property research firm RP Data-Rismark published earlier Tuesday showed capital-city house prices rose at their fastest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, government data last month showed retail sales rose sharply in January from December, signaling a pickup in consumer confidence and spending, while more jobs were added to the economy in February than in any month over the past decade.
-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
