Australian Trade Surplus at Two-Year High, Retail Sales Rise

Marcus Jacob
06 Mar, 2014
New York City

Australian indexes in choppy trading lacked direction and traded near flat line. Retail sales in January increased 1.2% and trade surplus in the month increased to a seasonally adjusted $1.43 billion, largest since August 2011.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian indexes in choppy trading lacked direction and traded near flat line. Retail sales in January increased 1.2% and trade surplus in the month increased to a seasonally adjusted $1.43 billion, largest since August 2011.[/R]

Australian stocks struggled near the flat line and retail sales in January were ahead of expectations and trade balance reached a two-and-a-half year high.

January retail sales increased 1.2% to $22.92 billion, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Trade surplus in January increased to a seasonally adjusted $1.43 billion, the statistics agency said in a separate report today. The surplus in December was revised higher to $591 million.

In January, exports increased 4% and imports gained 1% adjusted for seasonal factors.

The trade surplus was the largest since the $2.1 billion recorded in August 2011.

Australian dollar jumped to 90.11 U.S. cents and stock market trading turnover dropped to 845 million shares worth $4.8 billion.

The ASX 200 index slid 0.30 to 5,445.90 and the broader All Ordinaries inched up 2.40 to 5,459.70.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto rose 18 cents to $64.81. BHP jumped 44 cents to $37.80. Woodside Petroleum Limited added 21 to $38.37.

Westpac climbed 58 cents to $34.23 and the bank plans to raise about $500 million through a subordinated notes offering to wholesale investors in denominations of $100,000 with a minimum transfer amount of $500,000.

Bank of Queensland Limited gained 1.7% to $12.48 and Moody''s revised higher its external debt rating to A3 from Baa1.

BlueScope Steel Limited rose 0.5% to $6.28 after the flat steel producer plans to sell some of its assets in Western Australia to get a regulatory approval of $23 million purchase of the OneSteel sheet and coil business.

Carsales.com Limited climbed 4.9% to $11.03 after the online advertising company acquired 49.9% in South Korea-based online automotive trading website SK Encar for $126 million.