澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-08-07

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The local share market has closed flat on the back of weakness in financial stocks, with investors¹ cautious ahead of key US jobs data due out tonight. The All Ordinaries edged up just one point and the ASX 200 finished unchanged. The big four banks all closed in the red. But miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton managed to reverse their early losses and close higher. Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei ended 12 points lower. To commodities now, and gold and oil are both on the rise. And the Australian dollar is buying just over 91.5 US cents.

There are strong signs interest rates will stay on hold for longer with Reserve Bank making virtually no changes to its inflation and economic forecasts. The RBA's issued its quarterly statement on monetary² policy, and says underlying³ inflation set to remain within its 2-3 per cent comfort zone until the end of next year, which suggests an extended period of steady interest rates.

And activity in Australia's construction industry suffered another sharp fall in July with a significant slowdown in engineering and commercial building. According to the Australian Industry Group, all sectors⁴ were affected⁵ by tough market conditions, subdued⁶ client demand and intense competition to secure new work.