Australia Awaits Budget; Jobs Ads Rise for the Eleventh Month

Marcus Jacob
09 May, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks edged higher in a cautious trading ahead of federal budget tomorrow. The Australian dollar and oil closed higher. The Australian economy continues to create jobs as the latest private survey showed a sharp jump in ads. The jobs ads increased for the eleventh month in a row.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged higher in a cautious trading ahead of federal budget tomorrow. The Australian dollar advanced and crude oil closed higher. The Australian economy continues to create jobs as the latest private survey showed a sharp jump in jobs ads. The ads increased for the eleventh month in a row.[/R]

Australian stocks opened sharply higher but lost the momentum in the afternoon ahead budget announcement tomorrow.

The ASX index increased 13.80 or 0.3% to 4,756.80 and the All Ordinaries Index rose 15.6 or 0.32% to close at 4,831.70.

The Australian dollar increased 1 cent to US$1.07 and oil gained $3.01 to US$100.19 and commodities gained in regional trading.

The job market remained hot in Australia according to the latest survey published by the ANZ. The total number of ads increased 1% in newspapers and on Internet in April from March and rose 20.5% from a year ago.

The number of internet advertisements increased 1.2% in surged 22.2% from a year ago after adjusting seasonal factors. Australian newspaper ads declined 3.4% in the month but surged 6.1% from a year ago.

The government is scheduled to release its monthly jobs report and economists are expecting an increase of 5,000 and unemployment rate of 4.9%.

Stock Movers

Spotless Group surged 12.5% or 24.5 cents to $2.20 after the company rejected an unsolicited buyout offer of $657 million from a private equity firm. The company provides a range of cleaning and management services in Australia and New Zealand.

BHP Billiton increased 17 cents to $44.75 and Rio Tinto gained 44 cents to $80.01. Newcrest Mining edged lower 3 cents to $39.35.

Qantas inched 1 cent higher or 0.46% to $2.17 and engineers at the international carrier struck for one hour to highlight the sluggish wage negotiations with the management.

Energy complex stocks gained after crude oil and natirual gas prices were on the rise in Asian markets. Woodside Petroleum increased 54 cents to $45.85 and Santos added 25 cents to $14.71.

Incitec Pivot decreased 1 cent to $3.82 after the fertilizer and explosives maker reported first half profit increased 25% but guided volatile earnings in the second half.

Banks closed higher ahead of the federal budget release. NAB increased 6 cents to $27.84 and Commonwealth Bank gained 2 cents to $52.65. Westpac added 14 cents to $24.06 and ANZ advanced 15 cents to $23.39.

Media companies traded lower. Seven West Media dropped 13 cents or 2.8% to $4.54 and Fairfax declined 3.1% or 3.5 cents to $1.09.