Canada's central bank held interest rates steady Wednesday, abandoning its July rate tightening and adopting more of a wait-and-see approach after a volatile summer in the financial markets.

As expected, the Bank of Canada left its target for the overnight rate — what the major banks charge each other for overnight loans — unchanged at 4.5 per cent.

The central bank boosted the overnight rate by one-quarter of a percentage point in July as a move to counter inflation pressures.

Under normal circumstances, analysts say, the bank would hike rates again, as inflation is still running above its two per cent target.

But analysts said the central bank now thinks that the turmoil and caution in the markets will keep the economy from overheating.

"The bank expects the volatility in financial markets and attendant tightening in credit conditions to temper domestic demand," a morning commentary from RBC Economics said.

Problems in the U.S. housing market will be longer and more pronounced than expected due to fallout from the credit crunch in financial markets, the bank added. It warned that U.S. demand for Canadian exports could be affected. 

The central bank also cited "uncertainty about the extent and duration of the tightening of credit conditions in Canada."

The U.S. housing slump and the credit crunch have led to volatile trading on global stock markets in recent weeks.

Bank's next rate move 'a matter of debate'

While there was widespread agreement about Wednesday's stand-pat rate decision, economists differ widely on where Canadian rates will move next. That's because the central bank gave no explicit guidance about which way it's leaning.  

Economists at RBC and BMO Nesbitt Burns are among those who see the Bank of Canada leaving rates unchanged for the rest of the year, and then resuming rate hikes in early 2008.

Other economists who had expected the Bank of Canada to resume rate hikes in October are now backing away from those calls.

TD Economics, for one, said the central bank issued a "highly dovish statement" that conveyed no urgency to return to a tightening bias.

"The next move in rates is still more likely to be up rather than down, but the timing is a matter of debate and an October hike now looks less likely," said TD's director of economic forecasting, Beata Caranci.

But some economists think the Bank of Canada will be in rate-cutting mode as early as its next meeting on Oct. 16.

"The [Bank of Canada], like the U.S. Fed, is likely to err on the side of caution to prevent the credit crunch from spreading into the economy more broadly," said JPMorgan Securities Canada economist Ted Carmichael in a statement.