Despite overwhelming evidence of high interest rates hurting retailers and sectors including transport and construction, as well as consumers, the Reserve Bank of Australia has chosen to keep interest rate unchanged at 4.

The Fed announced a 50 bps rate reduction at its September meeting last week, bringing the fed funds rate to the range of 4.75%-5.0%. In contrast, markets expect the RBA to go for the first 25 bps rate cut to 4.10% only by February 2025, according to the ASX RBA Rate Tracker.