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Australian consumer confidence rebounds, but rate pressure persists

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index rose 4.1% to 83.9, but households also showed only a 0.7% increase in five-year economic expectations amid renewed oil-price risk.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Central Banks

Australian consumer confidence rebounded in early July, but analysts said the improvement may be fragile as it was captured just before fresh Middle East hostilities pushed oil prices higher, according to Forexlive.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of sentiment rose 4.1% from June, when it fell 2.9%, to a reading of 83.9, still placing it in the bottom 10% of results over the survey’s 50-year history, Westpac said.

Forexlive reported that the survey ran from July 6 to July 9, closing before the latest jump in global oil prices tied to developments near the Strait of Hormuz, with daily responses weakening as the situation deteriorated.

While the measure of future family finances jumped 13.4% in July as fuel prices eased, longer-term views barely shifted, with five-year economic expectations up only 0.7% to 87.1, and the “buy a major household item” gauge rising 0.5% to 86.8, while the Reserve Bank of Australia’s three rate hikes this year left the cash rate at 4.35%.

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