The risks to the call appeared “slightly skewed to the upside”, she said.

Higher shipping costs could potentially push up tradable inflation, although the improvement in the Australian dollar’s trade-weighted index could serve as an offset.

Economists from Deloitte Access Economics, State Street Global Advisors and elsewhere have warned against further increases to the cash rate in an economy barely growing and with unemployment ticking higher.

Others such as Judo Bank’s Warren Hogan, Coolabah Capital’s Christopher Joye and the Australian National University’s Steven Hamilton maintain the RBA has underdone its tightening cycle, pointing to sticky inflation and persistently strong employment.

Retail sales data will also be of interest before the August 5-6 interest rate meeting, also slated for release by the statistics bureau on Wednesday.

The pace of home price growth also has implications for inflation as rising asset prices can encourage more spending, putting CoreLogic’s July dwelling value index in the spotlight when it is unveiled on Thursday.

Other ABS data of interest includes building approvals figures for June on Tuesday, international goods trade statistics on Thursday and the producer price index and lending indicators on Friday.

AAP