• The broad measure of business inflation – the producer price index (PPI) – rose by just 0.1 per cent in the December quarter, well below expectations for an increase of 0.5 per cent. Compared with a year ago, producer prices were up by 2.7 per cent.
• Inflation was narrowly based, and largely driven by price increases for building materials and agricultural products like flowers and poultry. The rising Australian dollar resulted in prices of imported goods falling by 4.4 per cent in the December quarter to be 2.4 per cent lower over the year.
• Motorists need to prepare for higher petrol prices. The terminal gate or wholesale price of petrol leapt by almost 2 cents a litre last week to 26-month highs. CommSec expects petrol prices to rise 3 cents a litre over the coming fortnight.

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