Related Articles
ANZ Expects Australia's Trimmed Mean Q1 CPI to Rise 0.9% Quarter-On-Quarter
Australia's trimmed mean inflation expectedly rose 0.9% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of the year, with a 3.6% year-on-year increase, said ANZ in a Friday report.The bank expects that the consumer price inflation rose 1.4% quarter on quarter and 4.1% year-on-year.The divergence between headline and trimmed mean inflation partly reflects the impact of higher fuel prices in March, the bank said, as it expects a 35% month-on-month rise in automotive fuel in March, leading to a headline inflation increase of 1.2% month on month in March.ANZ expects the second-round pass-through from higher fuel costs to start having a more material impact on consumer inflation from April.The quarterly data is likely to affirm for the Reserve Bank of Australia that the underlying inflation pressures are evident in the economy before the escalation of the Middle East conflict in late February, ANZ added.ANZ continues to expect a 25 basis points hike in May by the central bank, taking the cash rate to 4.35%.
Singapore's Private Residential Price Index Inches Up 0.9% in Q1
Singapore's overall private residential price index rose 0.9% in the first quarter of the year, up slightly from the 0.9% growth a year earlier, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Friday.Overall private residential index was marginally up by 0.3%.About 55,800 private residential units are expected to be delivered in the next few years.Meanwhile, prices of landed properties fell by 0.4%, following a 3.4% increase in the previous quarter.Rental prices of private residential properties were up 0.3% compared with a 0.5% decrease in the previous quarter.
New Zealand Job Ads Rise Slightly in March
Job ads in New Zealand rose 0.8% month on month in March and were up 13% year on year, according to a Seek report on Friday.Applications per job ad, which are recorded with a one-month lag, declined 2.8% month-on-month, continuing their downward trend.The strongest monthly growth was seen in Taranaki, which rose 2.1%, followed by Southland, up 1.9%, the report said. Auckland edged down 0.1% month on month, and Wellington was broadly flat.In industry trends, trades and services and manufacturing gained 1.8%, while transport and logistics jumped 1.9%. Construction remained unchanged, while information and communication technology edged down by 0.1%.Artificial intelligence (AI) skill demand has grown rapidly in recent years, with job ads referencing AI rising nearly 144% since March 2025 and now more than five times higher than in 2019, although they still appear in only 2.9% of job ads.