Australian Job Ads Drop

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

Stocks in Australia closed higher despite a fall in commodities and crude oil prices. Australian job ad placement declined in March indicating a further rise in unemployment. Jobs ads declined 8.5% from February and plunged 54% from a year ago.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00 PM Sydney - Australian job ads declined 8.5% in March. Macquarie and State Bank of India to launch infrastructure fund of $1 billion.[/R]

Australian market averages rose on expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its key rate in order to boost economic growth. Gains were however pared by dropping commodity prices.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index gained 0.6% or 21 to 3,756.60.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 130 gained, 57 declined, and 14 were unchanged. Pacific Brands led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 34.3% followed by Kagara Ltd soaring 29.3%.

Australia Job Ads Fall 8.5% in March

Australia and New Zealand Group reported today that the number of job ads in Australian newspapers and on the web dropped 8.5% in seasonally adjusted terms in March from the previous month.

Average numbers of job ads declined to 147,804 per week, contributing to a 44.6% annual decline.

The report notes that the number of internet job advertisements plummeted 8.6% in March, reflecting an annual decline of 44% in seasonally adjusted terms, while the number of newspaper advertisements fell 6.6% in March, contributing to a 53.4% annual increase in seasonally adjusted terms.

Newspaper job ads are now 53.4% down from the same period a year ago.

According to ANZ''s head of Australian economics, Warren Hogan, the annual rate of decline in job ads was the largest on record.

Macquarie Group to Launch Infrastructure Fund

Dow Jones Newswires reported today that Macquarie Group has partnered with State Bank of India to launch an infrastructure fun to invest in projects in India.

The report says international investors have committed $887 million to the Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund, while SBI has committed to invest another $150 million, which will increase the capital to $1.04 billion.

Gainers & Losers

Pacific Brands led gainers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 34.3% followed by increases in Kagara Ltd. of 29.3%, in Sundance Resources of 25%, in NRW Holdings of 21.1%, and Futuris Corp. Ltd of 19.3%.

Commodity stocks rose. Mount Gibson Iron edged up 14.1%, Murchison Metals advanced 12.9% and Gindalbie Metals increased 11.7%.

Bendigo and Adelaide led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a fall of 8.2% followed by losses in Babcock & Brown of 7%, in Hastings Diversified Utilities of 6.9%, and Stockland of 6.8%.

Resource stocks tumbled after gold prices dropped 1.3% to $897.3 per ounce and crude oil prices shed 0.3% to $52.50 per barrel. Lihir Gold tumbled 6.1%, Minara Resources plummeted 5.7% and Newscrest Mining declined 5.1%.