Company Interview / Market Wrap | RBA decision, Westpac, Vault Minerals

The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates for the third time this year. The Bank decided to lift rates by 0.25% to 4.35% by majority decision. The RBA says the conflict in the Middle East has resulted in sharply higher fuel and commodity prices. The board assessed that inflation is likely to remain above target for some time and that risks remain tilted to the upside. Sian Fenner from Westpac says the rate hike was widely expected, placing it in the context of recent decisions. Steven Dooley of Convera also joined us to unpack the Aussie dollars immediate reaction to the decision. And David Flanagan from Curve says higher petrol prices influenced the decision. Chief economist at PWC, Amy Lomas, also gave her assessment in relation to recent geopolitics influences.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) has seen a decline in stressed exposures although it says the Middle East war is presenting challenges for some customers. Net profit for the half year rose slightly from a year ago to $3.4 billion dollars, although it was down 5 percent from the previous half. The bank's margins were squeezed because of lending competition and lower Treasury income. Business lending rose by 13-percent to $120-billion dollars and institutional lending also grew. Credit impairment provisions were increased to $5.2 billion dollars.

Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) and Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) say they will merge, with Regis acquiring all Vault shares. Vault shareholders will receive approximately 0.69 Regis shares for each Vault share held. The combined company will produce over 700,000 ounces of gold annually, hold 6 million ounces of ore reserves and 20.5 million ounces of mineral resources.