Australian Retail Sales Drag Dollar Down

123jump.com Staff
01 Apr, 2009
New York City

Australian dollar fell after retail sales decline 2% in February however Australian residential approvals rise 7.8% in February. China controlled Minmetals Group and Australian regulators are likely to agree for the sale of international assets of Oz Minerals Ltd. for $1.2 billion.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney - Australian retail sales decline 2% to A$18.9 billion in February. Australian residential approvals rise 7.8% in February.[/R]

Stocks in Australia fell 0.1% after a government report showed that the county’s retail sales dropped in February as global economic conditions continue to deteriorate.

Commodity stocks also dropped as gold prices dipped 10 cents to $921 per ounce and crude oil prices slipped 87 cents to $48.1 per barrel.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index fell 0.1% or 2.4 to 3,579.70.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 80 gained, 104 declined, and 16 were unchanged. Goodman Group led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 16.9% followed by Hastings Diversified Utilities gaining 15.5%.

Australian Retail Sales Fall 2%

Australian Bureau of Statistics reported today that the country’s retail sales dropped 2% to A$18.9 billion in February from a revised 0.5% in the previous month in seasonally adjusted terms.

In original terms, Australian turnover declined by 12.9% in February from a month earlier, as chains and other large retailers fell by 16.3%, while the estimate for ''smaller'' retailers plunged by 6.6%.

Turnover however increased by 0.5% in February from the same period a year ago.

The report notes that sales in all industries fell in seasonally adjusted terms with declines in food retailing of 0.4%, in department stores of 9.8%, in clothing and soft good retailing of 2.7%, in household good retailing of 3.8%, in other retailing 0.3% and cafes and in restaurants and takeaway food services1.3%.

New South Wales fell 2.4%, Victoria 1.3%, Queensland 2.2%, South Australia 2.4%, Western Australia 2.7%, Northern Territory 0.1% and the Australian Capital Territory 0.5%.

However, Tasmania gained 1.3%.

Australian Residential Approvals Rise 7.8% in Feb

Separately, the statistics bureau reported that the seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved rose 7.8% from the previous month but fell 25.5% from a year ago to 10,050 units in February.

Approvals for private sector houses in seasonally adjusted terms advanced 0.1% for the month and declined 23.2% to 7,091 units from a year ago in the review period, while the seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector other dwellings approved rose 34.1% from the previous month to 2,726 units.

In addition, the seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved rose 12.7% in February and the value of new residential building approved rose 11.2%.

Gainers & Losers

Goodman Group led advancers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 16.9% followed by increases in Hastings Diversified Utilities of 15.5%, in Ausenco Ltd. of 15.3%, in NRW Holdings of 8.7%, and Platinum Australia of 8.4%.

Macquarie Airport led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a fall of 8% followed by losses in Gindale Metals of 7.6%, in Sunland Corp. of 7.5%, in Transurban Group of 7.5% and MacMahon Holdings of 6.8%.