The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has held interest rates steady after a surprise surge in inflation potentially spelled the end of the cutting cycle.

Borrowers now face the possibility of the central bank’s next move being up rather than down, after the widely anticipated move on Tuesday 4 November.

The unanimous decision leaves the cash rate at 3.6% after 75 basis points of easing since February.

Underlying or trimmed mean inflation, which is the Reserve Bank’s preferred measure, jumped one per cent in the September quarter, which was materially higher than the bank’s forecasts, governor Michele Bullock said in October.

Despite unemployment also rising to 4.5% in September, money markets significantly lowered the odds of further rate reductions after last week’s consumer price inde

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