Consumer Price Index showed an acceleration to 2.9%, the highest rate since July. With such high inflation, the Fed is unlikely to cut rates in January.

Financial markets are betting the Reserve Bank will preview a rates reprieve in February, with official figures showing the RBA's preferred measure of inflation fell to 3.2 per cent over the year to December.

The largest price rises were alcohol and tobacco, along with recreation and culture, while housing and transport offset the increase.

Inflation in Australia remained in retreat in the final quarter of 2024, stoking the case for the central bank to join the global easing cycle by cutting rates at its coming meeting in February.

Australian consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in almost four years in the December quarter, while a pullback in housing costs helped cool core inflation and open the door to a cut in interest rates as early as next month.

Australias consumer price index (CPI) inflation grew less than expected in the fourth quarter, signaling a slowdown but still remaining above the Reserve Bank of Australias (RBA) target range. Data from the