That's all for today. Thank you for reading and for your comments. William McInnes will be running the blog tomorrow. It should be a more active day with CBA, the heaviest stock in the market reporting half year results.
Markets Live: ASX 200 closes at 6253.9
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The S&P/ASX200 closed at 6253.9 points after dropping 0.3 per cent on Tuesday.
The market dropped on opening and lost momentum in the afternoon, trading in a narrow band between 6245 and 6255. Over the past four weeks the index has ricocheted within a 100 point band without any clear sentiment.
Heavyweights like Telstra were down 5 cents to $2.81. BHP dropped 48 cents to $33.62 today.
CSL has a modest 1 per cent rise to $201.57. And New Hope was up 11 per cent to $3.54 after news it would buy Wesfarmer's 40 per cent stake of Bengalla coal mine.
Wednesday brings half year results from AMP, Commonwealth Bank, and full year results for IOOF, and Tabcorp. And RBA Governor Philip Lowe will give a speech on Demographic change and recent monetary policy in Sydney.
Economist Shane Oliver believes the RBA's 1.5 per cent target cash rate may stay in place until 2020 and then move lower.
"Once again, there is nothing in the RBA's latest Statement to suggest an imminent change in monetary policy," Mr Oliver, AMP Capital's Chief Economist wrote in a note to clients this afternoon.
"The RBA's own forecasts for decent growth and a gradual rise in inflation along with strong infrastructure investment, rising business investment and strong export volumes argue against a rate cut but the peak in the housing construction cycle, uncertainty about the outlook for consumer spending, the weakening Sydney and Melbourne property markets, the worsening drought, low inflation and wages growth and tight bank lending standards all argue against a rate hike."
"So the stand-off continues and the RBA will remain on hold for a while to come. The next move is probably still up but not until second half 2020 at the earliest and there is a rising risk that the next move will actually be down."
"So despite relatively minor periodic moves in bank mortgage rates (with funding cost pressure pointing to a small rise at present) and deposit rates, the broad outlook remains for bank interest rates to remain low for an extended period."
Macquarie Telecom is enjoying the biggest rise among the ASX 300 today, up 14.07 per cent to $24 in afternoon trading.
It expects higher full year earnings of between $47 million and $48 million, up from an expected $44 million to $46 million.
It will pay a 25 cent dividend, but will cease dividends from the first half of 2018-19 due to plans to spend about $40 million on a new data centre.
Simon Johanson reports: An offshoot of the busy Singapore-based Keppel conglomerate will expand its data footprint in Australia, adding a new shell and core data facility on vacant land in Sydney's Macquarie Business Park to its portfolio.
Singapore-listed property fund Keppel DC REIT, partially owned by the giant conglomerate Keppel Corporation, has tied up a 20-year triple-net master lease with Macquarie Telecom, which will occupy and develop the facility.
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As expected the RBA has held the target cash rate at 1.5 per cent.
The Bank's central forecast for the Australian economy remains unchanged. GDP growth is expected to average a bit above 3 per cent in 2018 and 2019. This should see some further reduction in spare capacity. Business conditions are positive and non-mining business investment is continuing to increase.
Higher levels of public infrastructure investment are also supporting the economy, as is growth in resource exports. One continuing source of uncertainty is the outlook for household consumption. Household income has been growing slowly and debt levels are high. The drought has led to difficult conditions in parts of the farm sector.
As we wait for the Reserve Bank Board to release its decision at 2.30pm the ANZ Research team has published some thoughts on high inflation in the Philippines. The central bank's overnight repo rate is at 3.75 per cent and likely to increase.
"Both headline and core inflation rose again sharply in July. The headline inflation print was ahead of market expectations for a second straight month. The acceleration in prices was also fairly broad-based," the analysts wrote.
"Overall, the evolution of inflation continues to remain challenging. Our current view is that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will increase its overnight reverse repo rate (RRR) by 25bps this week to 3.75 per cent."
"However, following July's inflation print, a more aggressive rate hike has become a distinct possibility."
Refunds for 'Fees For No Service' in the Australian financial sector may reach a whopping $850 million, ASIC has just announced.
Of this, $590 million is yet to be paid.
"AMP, ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac have now paid or offered customers $222.3 million in refunds and interest for failing to provide advice to customers while charging them ongoing advice fees," ASIC revealed just after 1.30pm.
Apart from the big banks, ASIC is now overseeing FFNS remediation programs by Bendigo Financial Planning Ltd, Police Financial Services Ltd (trading as BankVic), State Super Financial Services Australia Limited (trading as StatePlus), and Yellow Brick Road Wealth Management Pty Ltd.
Australia's only listed NRL Club, the Brisbane Broncos, made a $2 million post-tax profit in the six-months ending in June, down from a $2.4 million profit over the same period in 2017.
The Broncos now expect to see up to 15 per cent decrease in pre-tax profit for the full year, compared to 2017.
Shares are unchanged at 50 cents. News Corp owns 69 per cent of stock while Phil Murphy owns 22 per cent.
The Broncos warn the first half result cannot be taken as an indication of a full year trend because the second half includes five home games and significant expenses including player salaries which are accounted for on a monthly basis. Player costs went up $1.1 million in the half.
Average home game crowds of 30,402 during the first half of this year is down on the average 2017 first half crowd of 32,139.
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The S&P/ASX 200 is sinking lower as the afternoon starts, down 25 points now to 6248 points. A drop of 0.4 per cent.
Telstra continues to drag, down 1.9 per cent to $2.80. It has a heavy weighting in the market, which amplifies its price move.
Private client adviser at Morgans, Brooke Gardener, points out Telstra is down 34 per cent in the past year, including dividends.
Its shares were trading at high as $4.28 last August, but were now around $2.86.
While other blue-chip stocks are divesting businesses and returning profits to shareholders, Telstra has not announced similar plans, Ms Gardener says.
Wesfarmers is divesting Coles and coal, BHP has sold its shale and the big four banks are selling off their wealth management businesses.
The telco sector is one of the worst performers over the past two years, she adds.
Drought is sending more animals to the slaughter and Australian meat production is at a three-year high, the bureau of statistics confirmed this morning.
About 870,000 sheep were slaughtered in June, up 40 per cent compared to the same period in 2017. Lamb slaughter is up 12 per cent over the same period.
The number of cows slaughtered is up 7.8 per cent and calves up 10 per cent, although veal production is down.
Full data can be found here.
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