Australia's consumer inflation holds steady in April, rate cuts still in view

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian consumer inflation held steady in April as higher health and holiday costs offset a drop in petrol prices, although the monthly measure tends to be volatile and left hopes for more interest rates cuts mostly intact. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the monthly consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.4% in April compared with a year earlier, unchanged from March but slightly above median forecasts of 2.3%. Market reaction has been a tad muted as the April report only covers a portion of the full CPI basket and is concentrated on goods rather than services.