Australia’s Monthly Inflation Rate Steady at 3.4% in January

 Lingering upward pressure from housing rents, insurance and household utility bills could keep inflation “on the heated side.”

Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg
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Australian inflation surprisingly remained steady in January, supporting the case for the Reserve Bank to begin cutting interest rates later this year.

The consumer price indicator advanced 3.4% from a year earlier, below economists’ estimates of 3.6% and unchanged from December, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed on Wednesday.