RBA Seen to Hold Rate as Consumer Sentiment Still Weak: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s weakening consumer sentiment may leave Reserve Bank of Australia little option but to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 1.5 percent on Tuesday. The country’s consumer confidence reading in August was at its weakest level since 2008, although indicators for business conditions are in the opposite direction at a nine-year high.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net, Garfield Reynolds in Sydney at greynolds1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Bourke at cbourke4@bloomberg.net, Foster Wong