Australia’s overpriced sharemarket, having hit multiple record peaks since October, tumbled over the past fortnight and market watchers expect further pain as quarterly domestic inflation figures are released and tensions between Iran and Israel mount.
“We’ve had a decent pullback, but it’s too early to say the worst is over because there is still uncertainty around when interest rates will be cut and uncertainties around the Middle East,” said AMP chief economist Shane Oliver. Local investors on Wednesday will be closely watching the monthly and quarterly consumer price index figures. Analysts expect inflation to remain steady at 3.4 per cent.
And although the RBA has not always been guided by the Fed , Oliver said the RBA would be concerned if the Fed left interest rates high for longer, putting further pressure on the already weak Australian dollar.Eightcap market analyst Zoran Kresovic said the RBA would be monitoring an underlying measure of inflation, trimmed mean inflation, which picked up slightly in February from 3.8 per cent to 3.9 per cent.