Australian Dollar Gains on 7.5% Surge in Buildings Approvals

Marcus Jacob
08 Jan, 2015
New York City

Australian stocks and dollar traded higher after a surprise increase in buildings approvals. Seasonally adjusted November building approvals surprisingly increased 7.5% after upwardly revised 11.5% in October.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks and dollar traded higher after a surprise increase in buildings approvals. Seasonally adjusted November building approvals surprisingly increased 7.5% after upwardly revised 11.5% in October.[/R]

Australian market indexes gained following a surge in European and the U.S. market indexes and the Aussie dollar firmed after a surprise increase in building approvals.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said seasonally adjusted total number of building approvals in November climbed 7.5% to 18,245 compared to upwardly revised 11.5% surge in October.

On a yearly basis, building approvals soared 10.1% from downwardly revised 2.1% increase in October.

Australian dollar closed at 81.10 U.S. cents and in stock-trading turnover jumped to 760 million shares worth $3.92 billion.

ASX 200 Index gained 27.90 or 0.5% to 5,381.50 and broader All Ordinaries Index rose 24.90 to 5,359.40.

In commodities trading, gold fell $5 to US$1,208 an ounce and light crude oil increased 72 cents to US$48.65 a barrel. Brent Crude declined 47 cents to close at US$60.11 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Australian Ethical Investment Limited declined 3.8% to $40 after the investment company forecasted net profit for the first-half ending in February between $800,000 and $970,000 compared to $1.2 million in the same period a year ago.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 0.3% to $85.39 after the banking and financial service provider revised its interest outlook and said rates are likely to remain on hold up to 2016.

Earlier the bank projected that the Reserve Bank of Australia may lift cash rate as many as two times this year.

The bank estimate interest rates to be normalized in 2015 and rise to 3.5% in 2016.

Integrated Research Limited surged 38.7% to $1.29 after the management software developer said pretax-profit for the first-half ended in December will be in the range of $7 million to $8 million.

Qantas Airways Limited slipped 0.8% to $2.54 and the U.S.-based shareholder Franklin Resources, Inc lowered its stake to 14.22% from 15.4%, after the stock more than doubled in six months.