Australia’s Weak Consumer Confidence Boosts Case for Rate Pause

Australia’s consumer confidence held near a 30-year low as households fretted over mounting cost of living pressures and further policy tightening, bolstering the case for the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates next month.

Consumer sentiment was unchanged at 78.5 in March, a Westpac Banking Corp. survey showed Tuesday, the second straight month of extremely weak readings. “Index reads below 80 are rare, back-to-back reads even rarer,” said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans, citing rising borrowing costs as a “clear factor continuing to weigh on confidence.”