Consumer confidence dips: ANZ survey

Consumer confidence fell last week after the release of ABS data suggesting there was no inflation in the March quarter, ANZ analysts say.

Consumer confidence fell last week, giving up some of the gains over the previous period that were related to solid jobs data, ANZ analysts say.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence index slid by 1.6 per cent from the previous week, with the "future financial conditions" metric falling 1.5 per cent after four straight weekly gains.

But the survey also recorded a four per cent increase in the "time to buy a household item" subindex.

The weekly measure of consumer sentiment, which is based on about 1,000 face-to-face interviews conducted on Saturdays and Sundays, follows the release of ABS data on Wednesday that suggested there was no inflation in the March quarter.

"Inflation expectations have been trending lower since late last year and have been below four per cent three times in the last five readings, which is unprecedented in the history of the ANZ-Roy Morgan survey," ANZ economist David Plank said.

The index had jumped by 3.6 per cent in the prior period after official data showed full-time employment rose by 48,300 during March.