Australia: Q1 CPI eases - Westpac

Justin Smirk, analyst at Westpac, points out that the Australian CPI was flat in the March Quarter compared to the market median of 0.2% and Westpac’s 0.1%, while the annual rate eased back to 1.3%yr from 1.8%yr in Q4.

Key Quotes

“The average of the core measures, which are seasonally adjusted and exclude extreme moves, rose 0.2%qtr below market (0.4%) and Westpac (0.3%) expectations. In the quarter, the trimmed mean gained 0.28% while the weighted median lifted 0.10%. The annual pace of the average of the core measures printed 1.4%yr, the slowest pace of core inflation since December 2016.”

“Our preliminary estimate for Q2 2019 CPI is 0.6%qtr /1.6%yr for headline and 0.4%qtr/1.4%yr for core.”