Investors have dialled up bets the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates this year even though the central bank reiterated that any relief in borrowing costs was unlikely this year because inflation was still “too high”.

The RBA, as expected, left the cash rate at a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent for its seventh consecutive meeting, noting that data since last month’s policy meeting had reinforced the need to remain vigilant to the upside risks to inflation.