Australia’s central bank held interest rates steady on Tuesday, a month after cutting to a record low of 1.5%, and left open the question of further easing as the country gets ready to toast 25 years without a recession, Reuters reported. The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia came as no surprise given easings in August and May are yet to percolate through the economy. “The Board judged that holding the stance of policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time,” said RBA Governor Glenn Stevens, who retires this month after a decade in the top job. All 33 economists polled by Reuters expected a steady outcome and financial markets had priced in a vanishingly small chance of a cut. Most respondents looked for rates to stay on hold to the end of the year, though many favored one final easing to 1.25% in the first quarter of 2017.
