SYDNEY: Australian consumer price inflation held at a two-year low in February, contrary to expectations for a slight uptick, a result reinforcing market wagers that the next move in interest rates would be down.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed its monthly consumer price index (CPI) rose at an annual pace of 3.4% in February, unchanged from January and under forecasts of 3.5%.

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A closely watched measure of core inflation, the trimmed mean, rose an annual 3.9%, up slightly from 3.8% in January.

The CPI excluding volatile items and holiday travel, however, ticked down to 3.9%, from 4.1%.