RBA Takes Wait-and-See Approach Amid Stagnant Inflation

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is taking a wait-and-see approach after three interest rate hikes at the beginning of the year. According to Commerzbank's Volkmar Baur, the RBA wants to assess how inflation and the labor market continue to develop.

Although the annual inflation rate fell to 3.5% in July from 3.8% in June, it missed expectations of a decline to 3.3%, as forecast by Bloomberg's median consensus.

The trimmed-mean inflation remained stuck at 3.6%. Baur expects a hawkish tone at the September meeting but still doubts another rate hike is likely.