By Jacob Greber June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Australian consumer confidence fell for a third straight month after the central bank boosted borrowing costs six times since October and global financial markets were roiled by Europe’s debt crisis. The sentiment index slid 5.7 percent to 101.9 points this month, according to a Westpac Banking Corp. and Melbourne Institute survey of 1,200 consumers conducted between May 31 and June 6 and released today in Sydney. The index is close to the 100 point level where the number of optimists equals pessimists. Today’s report adds to evidence that waning consumer and business sentiment may cool economic growth this year in Australia, which skirted last year’s global recession. Central bank Governor Glenn Stevens said on June 1 that monetary policy is “appropriate for the near term,” after boosting the benchmark rate by 150 basis points between October and last month to 4.5 percent. The drop in optimism “reflects a mixture of concerns about deteriorating conditions abroad, financial market turmoil and uncertainty around the government’s proposed resource super profits tax,” said Bill Evans, chief economist at Westpac Bank in Sydney. “If this turmoil persists over the next two months, the central bank board will have a very difficult decision if the new inflation data points to further rising inflation pressure,” Evans said. Sentiment may rebound tomorrow when the latest unemployment figures are published by the government. Some 20,000 jobs were created in May, according to the median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. To contact the reporter for this story: Jacob Greber in Sydney at jgreber@bloomberg.net

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