The Australian sharemarket has fallen this morning after the release of pessimistic jobs data in the United States last week, which showed that the country’s economy is slowing, renewing fears of a double-dip recession.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 86 points or 2.03% to 4156.6 at 12.00 AEST, while the Australian dollar opened slightly lower at $US1.06c.
AMP shares tumbled 5.18% to $4.21, as ANZ shares lost 2.41% to $19.44. NAB lost 2.21% to $22.99 as Westpac lost 2.19% to $20.07.
Total job advertisements fell for the second month in a row in August but remain higher year-on-year, according to the ANZ job ads series.
Job ads fell by 0.6% over the month but remain 6.1% higher year-on-year. Over the six months to August, total job advertisements have dropped by 3.4%, the bank says.
“The declines in job advertising have been modest thus far,” ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan says.
“This suggests a soft patch for Australian economic growth associated with stagnant employment conditions rather than a sharp slowdown that will drive a rapid rise in unemployment.”
“Job advertising is clearly in a cyclical downturn in 2011, consistent with other indicators of both economic activity and labour demand,” Hogan says.
Newspapers were deeply hurt by the decline, with ads down 14.7% over the six months to August.
ANZ expects the unemployment rate to lift to between 5.25% and 5.5% over the next 12 months, but says it does not expect the Reserve Bank to lift rates any time soon.
Company profits rose by 6.7% over the June quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says, lifted by the resources sector and utility companies.
Overall, wages and salaries rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.3% over the quarter, the statistics bureau says.
Releasing its quarterly estimates of profits, income from the sale of goods and services, wages and salaries, and the book value of inventories, the ABS says profits in the mining sector lifted by a seasonally adjusted 15.2%. Wages and salaries in the sector rose by 6.7%.
For manufacturing, gross operating profits fell by a seasonally adjusted 7.4%, while wages and salaries edged up 1%.
Retail put in a surprisingly strong performance, with gross operating profit estimated to have risen by 6.2% seasonally adjusted, while wages and salaries rose 3.6%.
For electricity, gas, water and waste services, seasonally adjusted profits soared 14.9%, while salaries and wages grew by a quarterly 2.5%.
In construction, seasonally adjusted gross operating profits rose by 2.2%, outperformed by wage and salary increases of 3.3%.
Falls in vegetable and fruit prices helped push down consumer prices in August, a private inflation gauge shows.
The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge dropped by 0.1% last month, following a 0.3% increase in July.
Today’s results put the yearly inflation rate at 2.9%, at the upper end of the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% inflation targets, but well below July’s annual figure of 3.2%. The central bank is expected to keep rates on hold tomorrow.
TD Securities head of Asia-Pacific research Annette Beacher says the “acceleration in prices evident in the first half of this year may have taken a breather in the September quarter.”
“Looking ahead, we have confirmation that an outsized resource-led private investment boom remains on track, and productivity remains extremely weak, hence inflation pressures remain firmly tilted to the upside for 2012.”
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