AUD News

A leading economic index for Australia eased 0.1 percent in April, the latest survey from the Conference Board revealed on Wednesday.

More...

Australia's foreign exchange transactions value increased in May, figures from the Reserve Bank Of Australia showed Thursday.

More...

The number of skilled internet job vacancies in Australia continued to decline in May, a report from the Department of Employment showed on Wednesday.

More...

New home sales in Australia declined for the first time in five months in May, results of a survey by the Housing Industry Association showed Monday.

More...

Australia posted a merchandise trade deficit of A$1.911 billion in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - marking an increase of A$1.131 billion or 145 percent on the April deficit.

The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for a deficit of A$200 million following the downwardly revised A$780 million deficit in April (originally -A$122 million).

Exports were down A$1.30 billion or 5.0 percent on month to A$26.681 billion

Non-rural goods shed A$1.184 billion (6 percent), while rural goods lost A$62 million (2 percent) and non-monetary gold fell A$61 million (6 percent).

Net exports of goods under merchanting remained steady, while services credits climbed A$8 million.

Imports eased A$169 million or 1.0 percent on month to A$28.592 billion.

Capital goods fell A$195 million (4 percent) and consumption goods dropped A$34 million.

Non-monetary gold jumped A$38 million (12 percent) and intermediate and other merchandise goods added A$17 million. Services debits rose A$6 million.

More...

The construction sector in Australia moved to expansion in June, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed on Monday - posting an index score of 51.8.

More...

Australian job advertisements increased in June after declining in May, Warren Hogan and Savita Singh, Economists from ANZ Bank, said Monday.

More...

Australian business confidence improved in June, although conditions remained sub-trend, results of a survey by the National Australia Bank showed Tuesday.

The NAB business confidence index increased to 8 in June from 7 in May despite the government's challenging new budget. This improvement was driven by strengthened confidence in almost all the industries, with the surge in construction industry confidence contributing the most.

New orders remained stagnant in June, the same as in May.

However, the employment index weakened in June, coming in at -3, after being unchanged in May. Capacity utilization fell to 79.3 percent in June from 80.2 in May.

On the pricing front, input costs rose 0.3 percent quarter-over-quarter in June, a slower rate of increase than the 0.4 percent increase in May. Labor wages grew at a slower rate of 0.6 percent in June following the 0.7 percent increase in May. Output prices rose 0.1 percent on a quarterly basis in June, the same rate as in May.

The business conditions index increased to 2 in June from -1 in May, ending the negative trend that started in the beginning of the year. Sales and profits were stronger in June while employment remained weak.


More...

Australia's consumer confidence increased in July after a tumble in the previous months but remained weaker than average, results of a survey by Westpac showed Wednesday.

More...

The unemployment rate in Australia increased more than expected in June. reaching the highest level in 11-years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday. The rise in the jobless rate came about due to a faster rate of increase in the number of unemployed individuals and an uptick in participation rate.

The unemployment rate increased to a seasonally adjusted 6 percent in June, more than the 5.9 percent consensus estimate. This marked a return to the 11-year peak which was recorded at the beginning of the year.

The unemployment rate in May, which was reported to be stable with April and March at 5.8 percent, was revised upwards to 5.9 percent.

The unemployment rate among women remained stable at 6 percent in June while the jobless rate among men climbed to 6 percent in June from 5.8 percent in May.

Compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points in June.

The jobless rate among people looking for full-time jobs rose to 6.3 percent in June from 6.2 percent in May, the highest rate since January. The total unemployed people looking for full time jobs increased 10,000 from the previous month to 543,000 in June.

The total number of unemployed people increased 20,300 over the month to 741,700 in June, with part time jobs rising 10,300 to 198,600.

The number of employed people also increased in June, rising by 15,900 to 11.58 million in June. Annually, employment rose 0.9 percent in June.

This was in trend with the increase in job advertisements in June, as reported earlier this week by ANZ Bank. Job ads rebounded by 4.3 percent month-over-month in June after declining 5.7 percent in May, driven by a 4.5 percent rise in Internet job ads.

The number of people in part-time employment increased 19,700 to 3.52 million in June. However, full-time employment decreased 3,800 over the month to 8.06 million in June.

The participation rate increased over the month to 64.7 percent in June from 64.6 percent in May. The participation rate among men rose to 70.9 percent in June from 70.8 percent in May and among women it remained stable at 58.6 percent.

However, on a year-over-year basis, the participation rate decreased 0.4 percentage points.

Earlier this week, the results of a survey by Westpac revealed that Australia's consumer confidence increased marginally in June but remained weaker than average.

Also from earlier this week, the National Australian Bank said that business confidence strengthened in June despite the government's challenging budget.

More...