Australia central bank holds rates as housing market booms

FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians walk past the Reserve Bank of Australia building in central Sydney, Australia, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore/File Photo

SYDNEY: Australia's central bank held rates at near-zero in a widely expected move on Tuesday as easy monetary and fiscal policies propped up the coronavirus-hit economy, fueling demand for homes and boosting construction activity.

At its last policy meeting of the year, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left its cash rate and the three-year government bond yield target at 0.1% while maintaining its A$100 billion quantitiative easing programme.