Australia inflation races to 32-year high, sounds rate alarm

Australian inflation raced to a 32-year high last quarter as the cost of home building and gas surged, an alarming result that will stoke pressure for a return to more aggressive rate hikes by the country's central bank.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8% in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6%.

The annual rate shot up to 7.3%, from 6.1%, the highest since 1990 and almost three times the pace of wage growth.

A closely watched measure of core inflation, the trimmed mean, also climbed 1.8% in the quarter, lifting the annual pace to 6.1% and again far above forecasts of 5.6%.