Australian growth slows to 3-year low

Australia's economic expansion slowed to the weakest pace in more than three years, stoking speculation the central bank will add to Tuesday's interest- rate cut, the first since 2001.

Gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent from the first quarter, when it increased a revised 0.7 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney yesterday. The median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.4 percent gain. The economy grew 2.7 percent from a year earlier.

Australia's dollar is trading near its lowest level in a year after central bank Governor Glenn Stevens said he had more scope to cut rates as consumer spending, business confidence and stock market values slump. The bank reduced the overnight cash rate target on Tuesday from a 12-year high by a quarter point to 7 percent.