Job Ads Plunge 40% in Australia

123jump.com Staff
10 Mar, 2009
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher on a rise in crude oil prices. A private report indicated that job ads in metropolitan newspapers and on the Internet declined 40% from a year ago in February. Separately, New Zealand electronic charge card transactions declined in February.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney - Australian job ads fall 10.4% in February. New Zealand core card spending drops 0.4% in February.[/R]

The benchmark stock index rose in Australia on a rise in crude oil prices and despite a weak job market report.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index increased 1% or 30 to 3,184.50.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 94 increased, 87 dropped, and 19 were unchanged. Macquarie Office led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 20.9% followed by Asciano Group gaining 20.7%.

Job Ads Fall 10.4% in February

Australia and New Zealand Group reported today that the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the Internet dropped 10.4% to a weekly average
of 161,583 per week in February, and plunged 39.8% from a year earlier.

Job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers fell 25.2% to an average of 8,524 per week in February from a 12.3% increase in January. Newspaper advertisements also dropped 55.4% from the comparable year ago period.

The largest decline in newspaper job advertisements were in the Northern Territory falling by 33.8%, in Western Australia by 29.8%, the ACT by 27.4%, in Queensland by 26.5%, in New South Wales by 25.8%, in South Australia by 22.2%, in Tasmania by 19.5% and in Victoria by 18.3%.

The report also notes that the number of Internet job advertisements fell 9.4% in February to average 153,059 per week, and slipped 38.6% from the year ago period.

ANZ Head of Australian Economics Warren Hogan estimated that the unemployment rate will rise to 6.5% by the end of 2009 and 7.5% by mid-2010.

“Our assessment is that the latest job ad results are consistent with employment contracting at a 2% annualised pace over the second half of 2009. This in turn suggests that the current downturn in the economy is likely to last throughout 2009, with little prospect of a meaningful recovery before 2010,” said Hogan.

New Zealand Core Card Spending Falls 0.4% in February

Statistics New Zealand reported today that the value of electronic card transactions in the core retail industries, excluding the motor vehicle-related industries, fell 0.4% in February 2009 from a month earlier on weak sale of consumable items.

However, the total value of electronic card transactions increased 0.6% in February 2009 from a month ago led by fuel retailing and non-retail industries.

Also transactions in the retail industries edged up 0.5% in February after three successive months of declines.

Gainers & Losers

Macquarie Office led advancers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 20.9% followed by rises in Asciano Group of 20.7%, in GPT Group of 17.4%, in Hastings Diversified Utilities of 15.7%, and Pacific Brands of 13.3%.

Minara Resources led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a fall of 11.3% followed by losses in Babcock & Brown of 10%, in Macquarie DDR of 10%, in Linc Energy of 8.3%, and Alumina Ltd of 8.2%.

Resource stocks dropped after gold prices shed 2.6% to $918 per ounce. Fortescue Metals tumbled 6.3% and Sino Gold plummeted 5.6%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 31.05 or 0.44% to 7,054.98, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 349.47 or 3.08% closed to 11,694.05, CSI 300 index in China higher 38.26 or 1.74% closed to 2,240.78. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 30.00 or 0.95% closed to 3,184.50. The KL Composite index in Malaysia lower 2.97 or 0.35% closed to 855.25.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 20.47 or 1.91% to close at 1,092.20. SET index in Thailand closed higher 6.14 or 1.49% to 417.41 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 13.52 or 1.05% closed to 1,300.22. The Markets of India were closed today.