Australia's central bank on Tuesday left its cash rate steady at 3.85%, a shock for markets that had confidently wagered on a cut, saying the majority of the board wanted to wait for more information to confirm inflation was slowing, Reuters reported. Traders were quick to send the Australian dollar racing up 0.8% to $0.6543, while three-year bond futures extended earlier losses and fell 10 ticks to 96.60. The swift moves in markets imply around an 88% chance the cash rate would be cut to 3.60% at its Aug. 12 meeting, and now favours rates bottoming at 3.10% rather than 2.85%.

Australian employment dipped in May after solid gains the previous month, data showed on Thursday, although full-time jobs jumped and the jobless rate held steady in a sign of continued resilience in the labour market, Reuters reported. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that net employment dipped 2,500 in May from April, when they rose a revised 87,600. That was below market forecasts for a 22,500 increase, though the series has been very volatile in recent months. The jobless rate held at 4.1%, where it has been for over a year now.

The Victorian Liberal party will provide a $1.5m loan to former leader John Pesutto to ensure he can pay Moira Deeming’s legal fees and avoid bankruptcy, The Guardian reported. The loan was debated by the 19-member administrative committee on Thursday night and ultimately endorsed after a secret ballot, which was proposed to limit any factional retribution within a deeply divided party. Deeming, also a Liberal MP, successfully sued Pesutto for defamation after he falsely implied she sympathised with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.