Australian Retail Sales Flat; Home Sales Surge 6.8%

Marcus Jacob
09 Jan, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks and indexes closed flat after new home sales rose 6.8% in November and October sales increase was lowered to 2.8%. Retail sales in November were flat after rising for four months in a row. The dollar edged lower.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks and indexes closed flat after new home sales rose 6.8% in November and October sales increase was lowered to 2.8%. Retail sales in November were flat after rising for four months in a row. The dollar edged lower.[/R]

Australian stocks were nearly unchanged after retail sales were flat in November and new home sales increased 6.8% in the month.

The ASX 200 index closed down 3.10 or 0.1% to 4,105.4 and All Ordinaries index decreased 3 or 0.1% to 4,161.5.

The Australian dollar edged lower and closed at US$1.017.

New home sales rose 6.8% in November from the downwardly revised 2.8% increase in October according to the Housing Industry Association. Single family home sales soared 9.8% and apartment sales dropped 17% in the month.

Single family home sales increased 22.8% in New South Wales and rose 11.6% in Victoria. Sales in Western Australia increased 5.7%, in Victoria gained 4.7% and in South Australia declined 11.3%.

Australian retail sales were flat in November after rising for four months in a row according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The latest monthly seasonally adjusted sales were $20.93 billion compared to $20.927 billion in the prior month.

Sales in October increased 0.2% and had extended the gains for the four months in a row.

Sales declined the most in the Australian Capital Territory after they fell 1.9% and in Victoria fell 1.1%. Retail sales in Western Australian increased 0.8% and in Queensland added 0.5%.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd fell 4 cents to $35.20 and Rio Tinto Ltd decreased $0.37 to $62.15.

Fortescue Metals Group rose 2 cents to $4.46, Lynas Corporation Limited closed down 3 cents to $1.01 and Iluka Resources fell 14 cents to $15.41. Newcrest gained 70 cents to $31.45.

Oil Search Limited traded down 1 cent to $6.38, Santos Limited rose 2 cents to $12.25 and Woodside Petroleum decreased $0.07 cents to $30.97.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia decreased 11 cents to $49.40 and National Australia Bank fell 33 cents to $23.40. ANZ edged up 9 cents to $20.54. Westpac inched lower 3 cents to $19.99.

David Jones Limited closed down 7 cents to $2.37 and Wesfarmers Limited increased 3 cent to $30.40. Harvey Norman Holdings closed up 1 cent to $1.86 after chairman Gerry Harvey said in an interview that it plans to offer no new stores in Australia this year.

Woolworths Limited closed unchanged at $25.33 and JB Hi-Fi Limited decreased $0.13 to $11.24. Billabong International Ltd rose 2 cent to $1.82 and Kathmandu fell 2 cents to $1.26.

Qantas Airways Ltd closed unchanged at $1.47, Virgin Australia closed down 0.5 cent to 29.5 cents and Flight Centre closed down 23 cents to $16.57.

QBE Insurance Group Limited decreased 7 cents to $13.05 and Insurance Australia Group decreased 2 cents to $2.91.

QR National rose 3 cents to $3.54.