The University of Melbourne released a survey showing a monthly inflation gauge of 0.2 percent for August.

The current gauge is higher than July's 0.1 percent and June's 0.3 percent increases. The University's research arm, TD Securities Melbourne Institute, in a press statement said, “In the 12 months to August, the inflation gauge rose by 3.0 per cent, resting on the upper bound of the RBA's two to three per cent inflation target band.”

The largest influential factors to the inflation gauge were the price increases for fruit and vegetables, alcohol and tobacco, and furniture and furnishings. The decline in the prices for holiday travel and accommodation, gasoline and diesel, and meat and seafood, however, offset the rise.

TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher said through the recently release press statement, “The inflation gauge is telling us that the mid-year return to trend GDP (gross domestic product) growth, the income surge arising from the terms of trade boom and ongoing tight labour market are yet to translate into worrisome price pressures.”

Beacher pointed out the the consumer and private sector contribution “to this return to trend economic growth.” She said the Reserve Bank of Australia could “sit tight” for the rest of 2010 because mortgage lending rates are back to average levels.