Australian Dollar Falls; Woolworths Sales Rise

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

In Australian trading, the focus was still on currencies as stocks were unchanged. The currencies of Australia and New Zealand continue to slide after the weak economic report from China. The retailer Woolworths third quarter sales rose 6.5% on same store sales gain in Australia of 8.8%.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney - Australian job market drops in March quarter. New Zealand CPI increases 0.3% in the three months to March.[/R]

Australian stock indexes ended flat as news of rising retail sales in Woolworths were offset by deteriorating conditions in the local job market.

The currencies of Australia and New Zealand continue slide after the weak economic report from China. The Aussie dollar dropped to 72.06 U.S. cents and New Zealand dollar declined to 56.70 U.S. cents.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index rose 0.03% or 1 to 3,776.70.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 86 gained, 99 dropped, and 16 were unchanged. Lynas Corp. led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 24.4% followed by Australand Properties gaining 19.7%.

Australian Job Market Falls in March

Australian Associated Press reported today the Seek employment index, which gauges the ratio of job ads to job applications, fell 9.7% in March, dropping for the thirteen month in a row.

The index increased to 10% in January and 10.7% in February.

Labor demand was weak in Western Australia, which dropped 16.3%, Queensland 11.8% and Victoria 10.3%.

In addition, labor demands in NSW region fell 9.3%, in ACT tumbled 8.2% and in SA shed 3.2 %.

New job applications rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 % in March compared with February.
Seek employment manager Joe Powell said the number of job applications per jobseeker remained unchanged over the last 12 months.

Jobseeker visits to Seek are increased to 35% in the review period compared to a 36% rise in applications.

New Zealand CPI Rises 0.3% in March

Statistics New Zealand reported today that the country’s consumer price index increased 0.3% in the three months to March from the previous quarter on high food and cigarette prices.

Food group gained 1.2% in March quarter as grocery food advanced 1.4%.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco group rose 1.8%. Excise duty for cigarettes and tobacco increased 5.07 % January 1, 2009.

The housing and household utilities group edged up 0.3% in the March 2009 quarter, reflecting the smallest increase since the June 2001 quarter.

The transport group fell 1.5% as international air transport dropped 16.5%, diesel 19.2%, petrol 1%.

Gainers & Losers

Lynas Corp. led advancers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 24.4% followed by increases in Australand Properties of 19.7%, in Kagara Ltd. of 16.3%, in Murchison Metals of 15.3%, and Valad Property of 11.9%.

PMP Ltd. led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a fall of 10.7% followed by losses in Asciano Group of 8.3%, in PanAust Ltd. of 8.1%, and Ausenco Ltd. of 7.4%.

Gold stocks fell after gold prices shed 1.6% to $879.8 per ounce. Newscrest Mining dipped 5.8% and Sino Gold declined 5.2%.

Woolworths Sales Gain 6.5% to US$12.3 billion

Woolworths reported today that third quarter sales increased 6.5% to US$12.3 billion in the 13 weeks ended April 5.

Food and liquor sales in the third quarter soared 10% to US$8.4 billion.

The retailer opened seven supermarkets in the period.