Australian central bank keeps interest rates on hold

Australia's central bank on Tuesday voted to leave interest rates on hold, warning that inflation is likely to remain high as a result of the disruption to global oil supply.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said in a statement that its Monetary Policy Board voted unanimously during a two-day meeting in Sydney to keep the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35 percent.

The decision was in line with economists' expectations after Australia's annual rate of inflation fell from 4.6 percent in March to 4.2 percent in April, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Despite that fall, the Monetary Policy Board said that higher fuel prices have directly added to inflation.

"There are indications that this is passing through to the prices of other goods and services, so inflation is likely to remain high for some time," it said.

"The board remains focused on ensuring that inflation does not become embedded once the impulse from higher oil prices has passed through," said the statement.

The most recent inflation data from the ABS showed that the annual trimmed mean, the RBA's preferred measure of underlying inflation, rose from 3.3 percent in March to 3.4 percent in April, the highest figure since September 2024.

China's first batch of commercial real estate investment trusts (REITs) debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday, which was expected to help better use commercial real estate resources to serve the real economy.

The four commercial REITs' underlying assets cover mature commercial formats such as commercial retail and office buildings, which are located in core areas of cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Xi'an and Harbin.

The listings could help the asset owners raise funds and promote asset-light operation, while the investors could indirectly hold commercial properties and obtain dividend incomes from operating revenues such as rents.