Australian Home and Retail Sales Rise

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

Stronger than expected home sales and better than expected retail sales, lifted the Australian benchmark index. Stocks surged 2% and Aussie gained against the U.S. dollar. Crude oil, gold, copper and silver closed higher. The australian dollar closed up at 81.18 U.S. cents.

[R]3:00 AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney – Stronger than expected home sales in April and better than expected retail sales in Australia lifted the benchmark index. Stocks surged 2% and Aussie gained against the U.S. dollar.[/R]

Investors after a week of looking for directions from the global markets, received two domestic economic reports. The rise in retail sales and home sales lifted the market sentiment. The benchmark index ASX 200 index surged 2%.

Stocks were also buoyed by signs of economic strength in China.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index rose 2% or 76.3 to 3,894.40.

Of the ASX 200 stocks 143 advanced, 43 dropped, and 14 were unchanged. Felix Resources led gained in the index shares with a rise of 16.3% after gold prices climbed 1.7% to $980.3 per ounce and crude oil prices jumped 1.9% to $66.3 per barrel.

Other resource stocks gained. Mincor Resources increased 8.2% and Sundance Resources edged up 8%.

Australia Retail Sales Rise 0.3% to A$19.4 billion in April

Australian retail sales gained for the second successive month, rising 0.3% to A$19.4 billion in April from the previous month.

According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, sales increased in industries such as clothing and soft good retailing 0.8%, household good retailing 3.9%, and other retailing 0.1%.

Sales declined in food retailing by 0.2%, department stores by 2.8%, and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services by 0.5%.

The ABS notes that states that had an increase in turnover in April were New South Wales 1.3%, Queensland 0.8%, Tasmania 0.5%, and Australian Capital Territory 0.9%. However, sales in Victoria were unchanged.

Sales in South Australia dropped 0.1%, Western Australia 2.4% and Northern Territory 4.6%.

Australia’s New Home Sales Rise

The Housing Industry Association reported today that Australia’s total new home sales gained 0.5% in April from a month ago on a 1.1% rise in sales of detached houses.

Also the volume of detached house sales is 3% more than the same period a year earlier.

Sales of detached houses gained 18% in the three months to April after solid growth in all the five mainland states.

Detached new home sales increased 4.5% in New South Wales, 2.9% in Queensland and 1.5% in Victoria, while sales declined 4% in Western Australia and 4.8% in South Australia.

The HIA forecasts that the housing industry is set to recover as new home sales have now increased for the fourth straight month and are now 22% above the bottom point reached in December last year.

Sales of apartments and units declined 5.6% in April.

HIA chief economist Dr Harley Dale said, “The combination of low interest rates and the A$21,000 First Home Boost have lifted prospects for the housing industry, which is expected to convert to a recovery in home building activity from the June quarter of 2009.”

Aussie Rises 1.4%

The Australian dollar increased 1.4% to 81.18 U.S. cents in today’s trading. The latest economic reports strengthened the economic prospects and lifted the currency. The Australian dollar is expected to rise as high as 85 cents if the current economic momentum is sustained.

ASX 200 Index Movers

ConnectEast Group led the decliners in the ASX 200 index of 7.8% followed by losses in Platinum Asset Management Limited of 6.3%, in GWA International Limited of 5.4%, in Abacus Property Group of 4.4% and in Commonwealth Property Office Fund of 3.1%.

Felix Resources Limited led gainers in the ASX 200 index with a rise of 16.3% followed by gains in Macarthur Coal Limited of 14.8%, in Minara Resources Limited of 14.8% and Macquarie Group Ltd of 11.8%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 155.25 or 1.63% to 9,677.75, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 717.59 or 3.95% closed to 18,888.59, CSI 300 index in China higher 98.63 or 3.57% closed to 2,858.34. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 76.30 or 2.00% closed to 3,894.40. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 17.69 or 1.69% closed to 1,061.80.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 19.21 or 1.38% to close at 1,415.10. SET index in Thailand closed higher 19.57 or 3.49% to 579.98 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 81.75 or 4.26% closed to 1,998.58. The Sensex index in India increased 215.38 or 1.47% closed to 14,840.63.