MEDIA RELEASE No: 2003-07 Date: 19 June 2003 Embargo: For Immediate Release

INFORMATION ON OPEN MARKET OPERATIONS

After consultation with financial market participants, the Reserve Bank (RBA) has decided to increase the range of information published regarding its open market operations.

From tomorrow, 20 June, the RBA will publish a summary of each day's open market operations, including the total amount dealt in various instruments as well as the weighted-average and cut-off interest rates, by term, at which repurchase agreements were undertaken. This information will be available through wire services (Reuters: RBA39; Telerate: 1599; and Bloomberg: RBA18) at around 10.45 am.

The RBA will also announce the aggregate balance held in Exchange Settlement (ES) accounts at the close of the previous trading day, at the same time as it announces its dealing intention at 9.30 am (Reuters: RBA27; Telerate: 1587; and Bloomberg: RBA8).

Historical statistics on open market operations will be available on the RBA's website, www.rba.gov.au, and updated daily. They will also be available in a new Table, A.3, in the RBA's Bulletin commencing with the June edition. With the introduction of this new table the RBA is taking the opportunity to locate all RBA-related data in one section of the Bulletin. Accordingly, data on the RBA's foreign exchange transactions and holdings of official reserve assets (previously Table H.4) will now be published in Table A.4.