RBA leaves rates on hold at 1.5 per cent

The Reserve Bank board has kept its cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for the 13th consecutive month, amid a host of signs that the economy is picking up.

Treasurer Scott Morrison told the Coalition party room as the board was meeting that job advertisements were growing strongly, climbing 13 per cent in the past year.

Jobs growth was the strongest it had been since 1978, employers’ wages bills had climbed 1.2 per cent in the June quarter and non-mining investment had climbed 2.6 per cent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will provide a full accounting of the June quarter on Wednesday with the release of the national accounts at 11.30am. Market economists are expecting growth of 0.7 to 0.9 per cent, a jump from 0.3 per cent in the March quarter.

Although a further cut in the cash rate looks unlikely for the present, an easing in the CoreLogic measure of house price growth to near zero in Sydney and Melbourne in August appears to remove one of the arguments for an increase.