Rate cut picked for Thursday

The central bank has cut the OCR twice already since late April from 5.75% to 5.25%. A Reuters poll of 15 economists shows all are expecting a cut with a 70% chance of it being 25 basis points and a 20% chance of it being 50 points. Eight of them expect a further rate cut at the next monetary policy statement on 4 September.

The market has already anticipated a 25 point cut this week with the 90-day bank bills trading at 5.07% on Friday. It is less certain about future cuts with both the September and December 90-day bank bill futures implying a 4.95% physical rate by those dates.

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