Australia seen keeping rates steady at June meeting

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in Sydney, Australia, 01 September 2015. The RBA announced it will keep interest rates on hold at an historic low of two percent. The Australian bond market has been weighed down by a spike in oil prices, nervousness about China's pace of growth and fears of a September US rate rise. EPA

SYDNEY: Australia's central bank is all but certain to keep its cash rate at a record low of 1.5% at its monthly policy meeting next week, a Reuters poll of economists found.

Out of 55 economists polled by Reuters, 53 forecast the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would stand pat at its policy meeting on June 6, following two rate cuts last year, as it balances the risk of fuelling further borrowing in the country's red-hot property market against tepid inflation.

While the majority predicted the central bank would keep rates steady until the middle of next year, half of the 44 respondents forecast that it would raise rates by September next year, against 5 who expect an easing. - Reuters