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RBA's June Meeting Note Highlights Monetary Policy Board's Hawkishness, ANZ Says

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The minutes for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy board's June meeting highlighted the board's hawkishness and the risk of a further rate hike, but the cash rate is forecast to remain at 4.35% for the next year or so, ANZ said in a note on Tuesday.

The board members had noted that information received since the previous meeting supported the view that the economy was operating "with excess demand and widespread inflationary pressures." The slowing in economic activity is described as being "as expected" and "broadly in line with earlier expectations."

The minutes added that the labor market was maybe a little weaker than the board expected, although it "cautioned against reading too much into monthly data outcomes." The housing market was also easing "by more than expected," due to recent increases in the cash rate, tax changes, and the wider economic environment.

Given the inflation outlook, there is likely to be some form of tolerance on the RBA's part for weak activity data, the lender said.

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