S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) is up 16.4 points, or 0.26%, to 6312 after trading in the red just before the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Statement on Monetary Policy (SoMP).
RBA lowered its trimmed mean CPI (consumer price inflation) forecast for 2019 from 2% to 1.75%, and for 2020 from 2.25% to 2% – a 0.25ppt reduction in the forecast.
The RBA also said that its “central scenario is for the Australian economy to grow by around 2.75% in 2019 and 2020, which is slightly down from 3.0% and 2.75% in the February SoMP.
Gainers
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) is leading the market up 1.5%, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is up 1.3% and Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) is up 0.7%.
New Hope Corp (ASX:NHC) has risen 3.4%, TPG Telecom (ASX:TPM) is up 3.5% and Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) is trading 3.6% higher.
[VIDEO] Mid-Session: The Australian sharemarket is marginally higher towards lunch on Friday with the ASX 200 climbing 15 points to be back above 6,300. The improvement comes despite another weak lead from Wall St. https://t.co/jyNytHjRss #ausbiz
— CommSec (@CommSec) May 10, 2019