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Australia's RBA minutes saw growth around trend

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Australia's central bank interest-rate-setting committee said at its August meeting that the Australian economy grew near its trend level in the June quarter, according to minutes of the committee's last meeting, released Tuesday. Activity continued to vary significantly across industries, the Rerserve Bank of Australia members said, as resource investment evolved as forecast, and as the high Australian dollar and weak housing-market conditions weighed on other areas of the economy. "Members were informed that additional large resource projects had commenced or received approval in recent months, thereby sustaining the very large stock of work in the pipeline," the minutes said. The global economic environment was fragile, while Australian inflation remained contained, the members said during the meeting in which they left the key cash rate on hold at 3.5% for another month.