Australian borrowers are likely to be spared more interest rate pain this week, following the first Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting under its new governor.
The central bank has been on the sidelines for the past three meetings and most economists say it will leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.1 per cent again in October.
Board members will meet on Tuesday for the first time under the leadership of Michele Bullock, who took over from Philip Lowe as governor last month.
The RBA remains alert to anything that threatens its plan to bring down high inflation, however, especially after the monthly consumer price index ticked up a little in August.
But the board will likely wait to see the quarterly inflation numbers, due on October 25, to get a fuller picture.
RateCity research director Sally Tindall said one more hike before Christmas remained a possibility, but the RBA would need to tread carefully.
"These next few meetings will be crucial in getting the balance right between taming the inflation beast and keeping the economy upright," Ms Tindall said.
Another 25 basis point hike would bring the cash rate to 4.35 per cent and push up the cost of servicing a $500,000 mortgage by a total of $1,210 compared with before interest rates started going up, according to numbers crunched by the firm.
Australia will also get fresh home value data from CoreLogic early this week, with the September report due on Monday.
The property market has been recovering strongly after prices slumped last year.
More housing-related data will be released on Tuesday, with building approvals and lending data to be dropped by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
International trade data for the month of August is due from the bureau on Thursday, along with the monthly household spending indicator.
Meanwhile, the Australian share market is expected to open lower on Monday, after Wall Street finished weaker following Friday's session.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 158.84 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 33,507.5, the S&P 500 lost 11.65 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 4,288.05 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 18.05 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 13,219.32.
The most-traded ASX SPI200 Index futures contract fell 38 points in weekend trading to 7048 points, pointing the way to a softer start to the week.
On Friday, the local market closed modestly higher but still finished the month of September in the red.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 23.8 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 7,048.6, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 27.2 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 7,249.7.
The ASX200 index ended September down 3.5 per cent, marking its worst month since a 7.3 per cent fall in September 2022.
