Inflation dip suggests RBA will hold rates

Good sign: Bullock speaks at a news conference in Sydney. Australia’s central bank has kept interest rates at a 12-year high this year but saw a gauge of monthly inflation cool in July, suggesting price pressures began to ease in the current quarter. — Bloomberg

SYDNEY: A gauge of Australian monthly inflation cooled in July, suggesting price pressures began to ease in the current quarter though not fast enough to warrant early interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index (CPI) climbed 3.5% from a year earlier, down from 3.8% and just above economists’ estimate of 3.4%, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday.