Recent rate cuts and household stimulus have helped economy-wide spending rise for the sixth consecutive month in June.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) business sales indicator (BSI) for June rose by 2.5 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms.

The BSI tracks the value of credit and debit card transactions made through CBA systems and represents about a third of total market spending.

It also showed spending soared 10.1 per cent this year from a year ago, the biggest annual gain in more than four years.

The results show that consumers are still spending, albeit cautiously, Commonwealth Bank’s local business banking executive Matt Comyn said.

“Small surges in consumer sentiment can result in spending increases, which is what we have seen throughout the year, and again in the June results,” he said.

“While these improvements are gaining traction, consumer confidence still remains fragile.”

The report’s author, Commsec chief economist Craig James, said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s back-to-back rate cuts in May and June and the government’s carbon tax household compensation payments helped boost spending.

“The improvement in household budgets has enticed consumers to spend more freely, and businesses across an array of sectors have benefited,” he said in a statement.

The RBA cut the cash rate by half a per cent in May and a quarter of a per cent in June, before leaving it steady at its meeting on July 3.