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SYDNEY, May 1 (Reuters) Australian petrol prices have hit a record high just days before the central bank meets to review interest rates, injecting some uncertainty into a market that has been preparing for the first rate rise in more than a year.

The national average price of petrol surged 3.7 cents per litre over the past week to a record A$1.34 a litre, topping last September's record of A$1.32 a litre, the Australian Institute of Petroleum said on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept the cash rate steady at 5.50 percent since March 2005, and some commentators cited petrol prices as a reason to expect the pause to be extended.

''With the national average petrol price at a record high, the Reserve Bank will not touch interest rates,'' said Andrew Mitchell, economist at Commonwealth Bank.

''Instead, the Reserve Bank will be content to sit on the sidelines and observe the impact soaring petrol prices have on domestic spending before it makes any decision to hike rates,'' he said.

Oil traded above $72 a barrel on Monday, up 19 percent since the start of the year.

The Reserve Bank will announce its policy decision at 9:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) on Wednesday.

Interest rate markets pared expectations of a quarter-percentage point rate rise to just under 50 percent on Monday from over 60 percent last week, even as inflation threatens to top the central bank's 2-3 percent target band.

''The case can be made either way,'' said Richard Gibbs, chief economist at Macquarie Bank.

''The recent rise in the oil price could see consumer spending pull back in coming months ... if we were in charge of monetary policy, we would not tighten,'' Gibbs said.

First-quarter data released last week showed the consumer price index rose 3.0 percent from a year earlier, topping market expectations and sparking a sell-off on debt markets to reflect the risk that the central bank would act swiftly to curb a further acceleration in inflation.

RBA Deputy Governor Glenn Stevens said late last year that the central bank would overlook temporary petrol price rises, but warned that persistently high prices risked second-round price effects that would generate a policy response.

REUTERS PV DS1150