Consumer confidence in Australia increased by 1.3 points last week, reaching 89.3 points, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan survey. The four-week moving average remained steady at 88.2 points.
Weekly inflation expectations dropped by 0.2 point to 4.7 percent, and the four-week moving average for inflation expectations eased by 0.1 point to 4.9 percent.
The survey found that perceptions of current financial conditions over the past year rose by 2.2 points, while expectations for future financial conditions over the next twelve months saw a significant increase of 7.2 points.
Short-term economic confidence, which measures sentiment about the economy over the next twelve months, fell by 2 points. In contrast, medium-term economic confidence for the next five years rose by 1.7 points.
The subindex measuring whether it is a good time to buy a major household item declined by 2.3 points.
"ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence lifted 1.3pts last week to 89.3pts, remaining below the early August peak. Strengthening confidence in household finances drove last week’s rise, as the 12-month financial outlook rose to its highest level since late April and is the only subindex above the neutral 100 level (that is, there were more optimistic survey answers than pessimistic answers)," said ANZ Economist Sophia Angala.
"Economic confidence was steady this week despite Q2 GDP data last week pointing to a pick-up in economic momentum. We continue to expect income growth, tax cuts and RBA rate cuts to provide upward momentum to consumer confidence later this year," she said.