The cost of conducting business in Australia nudged a bit higher in the last three months leading to June, according to the latest figures furnished on Monday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), suggesting as well that consumer prices are poised to absorb minimal impacts in the next few months.

The ABS said that the country's producer price index (PPI) for the June quarter saw a moderate jump in the last three months, posting only 0.3 percent and slightly below from the earlier expectations of 0.8 percent by many economists, en route to an annual rate of 1.5 percent.

It added that in the June quarter, the PPI jumped by 0.9 percent in the intermediate stage with a preliminary stage increase of 1.5 percent while over the year to June, the PPI spiked by 0.6 percent at the intermediate stage with a preliminary stage increase of 1.2 percent.

The new numbers were released ahead of the Wednesday publication of the anticipated consumer price index (CPI), which could trigger a new round of rate hikes coming from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), and following the 1.0 spike in prices during the March quarter, which is the sharpest climb seen so far this year.

ABS said that the average annual PPI rate presently rests at 1.0 percent, which is way below the RBA's projections of two to three percent inflation target band and reflective of the soft prices seen in 2009.

Analysts said that no direct correlation exists between the PPI and CPI but they reminded that the numbers could point to pressures indication on consumer prices in the remaining quarters of 2010 in the event that producers would decide to pass on their increased costs to consumers.