Australian CPI rises 1.2%

Australia's Consumer Price Index ( CPI) rose 1.2 percent in the September quarter, compared with a rise of 0.4 percent in the June quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported Wednesday. The ABS said the CPI rose 2.2 percent through the year to the September quarter. Economists had expected the headline inflation rate to rise by 0.8 percent in the September quarter for an annual rate of 1.8 percent. Prices increased for a wide range of products in the quarter, including automotive fuel (up 7.6 percent), international holiday travel and accommodation (up 6.1 percent) and electricity (up 4.4 percent) but price for vegetables fell 4.5 percent, the ABS said. The price rise in holiday travel is mainly due to airfare price increases, driven by higher jet fuel prices. Investment bank JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said the stronger than expected headline inflation figure suggested a possible rate cut at the Reserve Bank of Australia's board meeting in November. "We still think the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) has got more work to do in the current easing cycle," Kennedy told the Australian Associated Press (AAP). "A rate cut in 2014 is the more likely scenario although it will definitely depend on the data between now and then and the burden will particularly be on the labor market data and the path of recovery of the housing market."