Australian Home Construction Approvals Fall 15.9%; Trade Surplus Narrows

Marcus Jacob
03 Mar, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Australia edged higher in a quiet trading. Resource and healthcare stocks led the gainers in trading. Australian trade surplus in January narrowed to $1.88 billion and home construction approvals fell 15.9%.

[R]4:00 PM Sydney – Stocks in Australia edged higher in a quiet trading. Resource and healthcare stocks led the gainers in trading. Australian trade surplus in January narrowed to $1.88 billion and home construction approvals fell 15.9%.[/R]

Stocks in Australia were generally higher after crude oil prices rose and resource stocks were in demand. The home construction approval declined 15.9% and trade surplus narrowed in January.

Investors focused on domestic issues and earnings and healthcare, gold miners and energy related companies closed higher.

The ASX 200 index rose 3.2 to 4,806.40 and the All Ordinaries index added 4.50 to 4,920.80.

The Australian dollar edged lower to US$1.0155 and immediate month delivery crude oil future increase US$2.64 to US$102.25.

The total number of homes and apartment approved for construction declined 15.9% in January from December and fell 18.8% from a year ago month, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Separately the statistics agency also said seasonally adjusted trade surplus narrowed in January to $1.88 billion from $2.02 surplus in December.

Australian Auto Sales Edge Lower

Seasonally adjusted auto sales in February decreased 0.5% from January and rose 1.6% from a year ago month.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reported February sale of cars and trucks was 80,896 and sales in the first two-months declined 1.7% to 154,480.

Passenger vehicle sales declined 5% and sports utilities sales increased 4.7% from a year ago.

Stock Movers

Downer EDI gained 0.6% to close $3.81 after it raised $201.8 million from institutional investors.


Woodside Petroleum increased 55 cents to $43.18 and AWE increased 10.5 cents to $1.73.

BHP Billiton increased 50 cents to $46.55 and Rio Tinto increased 8 cents to $84.20. Newcrest declined 18 cents to $38.23.

Banks closed lower. Commonwealth Bank decreased 46 cents to $52.11 and Westpac dropped 9 cents to $23.11, National Australia Bank fell 26 cents to $25.29 and ANZ declined 26 cents to $23.60.

Healthcare stocks closed higher on earnings optimism. ResMed increased 4 cents to $3.14, Sonic Healthcare increased 33 cents to $11.60 and CSL gained 60 cents to $35.90.