Australia's inflation cools, supporting RBA's cont

Aihucha News, August 30: Australia’s monthly inflation gauge was weaker than expected, reflecting global trends and supporting the Reserve Bank of Australia’s case for extending a pause in interest rate hikes at next week’s policy meeting. Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed that the consumer price index rose 4.9% year-on-year in July, beating expectations for a 5.2% increase. The Reserve Bank of Australia predicts that inflation will fall back to the 2-3% target range by the end of 2025, and inflation has slowed for three consecutive months. Cooling prices will be welcomed by RBA Governor Philip Lowe, who has been in data-reliant mode after raising rates 12 times. The market expects that the CPI cooling will allow the Reserve Bank of Australia to remain unchanged next Tuesday, the Australian dollar extended its decline, the policy-sensitive three-year government bond yield fell, and the stock market rose.