The Australian dollar fell and bond prices rallied after underwhelming wage price index data cooled investor expectations for outsized interest rate increases ahead from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Wages growth, a key component of the RBA’s assessment of inflation, rose 0.7 per cent in the March quarter, missing forecasts for a 0.8 per cent gain. On a year-on-year basis, the rate of growth ticked up to 2.4 per cent, from 2.3 per cent, but also came in under analysts' expectations, for 2.5 per cent.