Australian Job Ads Rise; Mortgage Worries

Darlington Musarurwa
11 Jan, 2010
New York City

Australian stocks edged higher ahead of earnings season this week. A rise of 0.7% in oil and 0.5% in gold lifted resource linked stocks. Job ads in December increased in newspapers and on the Internet. Australia

[R]3:00 AM New York, 7:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged higher ahead of earnings season this week. A rise of 0.7% in oil and 0.5% in gold lifted resource linked stocks. Job ads in December increased in newspapers and on the Internet. Australia’s home loan arrears gain 1.3 in October.[/R]

The benchmark stock index rose fractionally in Australia led by commodity stocks as gold prices gained 0.5% to $1,139 per ounce and crude oil prices advanced 0.7% to $83.3 per barrel.

A private report indicating the country’s job adverts rose markedly in December also helped the market sentiment.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index rose 0.8% or 38.6 to 4,950.70.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 122 rose, 62 fell, and 16 were unchanged. Platinum Australia led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 9.8% followed by Panoramic Resources gaining 8%.

Then Australian dollar increased 0.6% to 64.88 U.S. cents.

Australian Job Ads Rise 6% in December

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group reported today the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet climbed 6% to 149,063 per week in December, but fell 22.6% from the same period a year earlier.

Jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers soared 11.6% to an average 10,631 per week, following a 8.3% gain in November. The adverts are 4.8% higher than a year ago.

Ads rose in Northern state by 62.6%, in NSW 13.9%, in Victoria 11.6%, in ACT 10.6%, in Queensland 9.5% and in Western Australia 4%.

However, South Australia and Tasmania recorded a fall.

According to the report, Internet job advertisements grew 5.6% to average 138,432 per week, but decreased 24.1% from the corresponding year ago period.

ANZ Acting Chief Economist Warren Hogan said accelerating labour force growth in 2010 however could mean a further increase in national unemployment rate.

“This sustained improvement in job advertisements and actual employment has come relatively early in this economic recovery cycle, indicating the “mildness” of the downturn Australia has experienced in the past 18 months,” said Hogan.

Australia’s Home Loan Arrears Rise 1.3% in October

The Australian reported today that a survey by Standard & Poor Ratings Services showed arrears on residential mortgage loans advanced 1.27% in October from 1.25% a month earlier.

Borrowers of low-documentation loans rose to 3.51% from 3.37%, while arrears on sub-prime loans dipped to 11.2% from 11.49%.

“Arrears might worsen, however, given the expected sluggish recovery of the economy and the impact on borrowers from interest rate rises since October 2009 by the Reserve Bank of Australia,” Standard & Poor''s credit analyst Vera Chaplin said.

ASX Movers

Pacific Brands Limited led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 3.3% followed by losses in Abacus Property Group of 3.3%, in SP AusNet of 3.2%, in carsales.com Ltd 2.9% and in Iluka Resources Limited 2.8%.

Platinum Australia Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 9.8% followed by gains in Panoramic Resources Limited 7.9%, in Alumina Limited of 6.7% and in Western Areas NL of 6.6%.

Other Movers

St Barbara Limited the mining and sale of gold increased 6.4% to A$0.33 and BHP Billiton plc added 1.9% to A$44.47.

BlueScope Steel Limited the steelmaker climbed 1.8% to A$3.30.

Foster’s Group Limited the brewer rose 1.1% to A$5.45.

Newcrest Mining Limited gained 1.7% to A$36.82 after the gold producer received an approval for its A$2 billion Cadia East project near Orange in NSW.

Rio Tinto Limited advanced 1.2% to A$80.00 after the mining company’s Indonesia unit said it will start this year work in its Rp18 trillion ($1.93 billion) nickel mining project in Lasamhala in the border area of Central and Southeast Sulawesi provinces.

WorleyParsons Limited fell 1.3% to A$30.04 after the engineering company was downgraded to “sell” from “neutral” at UBS AG.