Aussie consumers less pessimistic

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Consumer sentiment rebounded in early July as a retreat in petrol prices boosted family finances, though prices are now climbing again amid new hostilities in the Middle East.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey showed its monthly index of consumer sentiment rose 4.1% in July.

But the index reading of 83.9 points indicated pessimists greatly outnumbered optimists.

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Westpac's head of Australian macro-forecasting, Matthew Hassan, has said that "The latest Index read is still in the bottom 10% of results over the 50-year history of the survey"

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Meanwhile, the index measuring whether it was a good time to buy a major household item added only 0.5% to 86.8, still far below the long-run average of 123.0.

And Around 60% of those surveyed expect mortgage rates to increase further over the next 12 months, though that was down from 66% in June.