Westpac Bank released its consumer confidence index for Australia on late Tuesday evening. The index fell 3.5% in January, after a 0.8% fall in December.

The index was mainly driven by a drop in the index tracking views on 'family finances vs a year ago', which plunged by 9.4% in January.

"With limited domestic news during the holiday season consumers appear to have been mainly impacted by the spate of negative news on the international front and the spill over effect on financial markets," Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans said.

"The Reserve Bank Board next meets on February 2. Despite markets confidently expecting that the Reserve bank would cut rates by February Westpac has remained firmly of the view that the Bank will remain on hold throughout the second half of 2015 and the whole of 2016. We retain that view despite some concerns from this survey that consumers may slow their spending in response to this current global uncertainty," he added.