Australian job ads fall for second month in May
Job ads in May were down 5.7% from a year earlier, though they remained 13.6% higher than pre-pandemic levels. 'Although the ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads series has remained in a tight range of 114-117 over the last year, the May result is in the bottom of that range and marks the lowest level of job ads since March 2021,' said ANZ economist Aaron Luk.
'The labour market still remains tight, with robust employment growth and a low unemployment.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
16 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Australian shares slide on Trump tariff woes
Australian shares slid almost 1% on Friday in a broad-based sell-off, as appetite for risk assets soured after the United States slapped dozens of trading partners with steep tariffs. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.9%, or 77.2 points, to 8,665.6 by 0103 GMT, but was on track for a weekly gain of nearly 1%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%, bringing the total loss this week to 1.5%. U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a slew of new tariffs on a host of foreign nations ranging from 10% to 41% on U.S. exports. Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said the White House had confirmed no country has lower reciprocal tariffs than Australia, indicating that Trump has maintained the 10% baseline tariffs on Australian exports, leaving them unchanged. Australia is one of the few nations with which the United States consistently runs a trade surplus — a key talking point frequently emphasised by Australian officials during trade negotiations with their U.S. counterparts. On the Sydney bourse, financials fell about 1.3%. The country's 'big four' lenders slipped between 0.5% and 1.5%. Technology stocks fell 1.3%, tracking a decline in Wall Street as investors assessed a fresh round of corporate earnings and economic data. Energy stocks declined 0.9%, falling for a third consecutive session as oil prices struggled for momentum. The sub-index hit its lowest level since July 22 and was on track for its worst week since late June. Among individual stocks, casino operator Star Entertainment fell as much as 9.1% to its lowest level since May 5, as its plan to sell its 50% stake in the A$3.6 billion ($2.32billion) Brisbane resort failed. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.6% to 12,750.81, its lowest since July 23, after U.S. tariffs on the country were raised to 15% from the 10% baseline announced in April.
Business Recorder
16 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Australia, NZ dollars badly bruised as greenback makes a comeback
SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars were looking punch-drunk on Friday as six straight sessions of losses left them at multi-week lows on a resurgent greenback, though they held up better on other currencies. The Aussie was pinned at $0.6429, and near a five-week low of $0.6422. That left it down almost 2% on the week, the steepest fall since late March. Support lies at $0.6373, with resistance at $0.6476. The kiwi dollar was stuck at a 10-week trough of $0.5874 , having shed 2.3% for the week. Support lies at $0.5847, with resistance at $0.6932 and $0.5969. The losses were almost all against the U.S. dollar, with the Aussie steady on the yen and up on the euro for the week. That partly reflected markets scaling back the probability of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September to around 40%, from 75% a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, a soft inflation report has markets ever more convinced the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut the 3.85% cash rate by 25 basis points when it meets on August 12, and continue easing to 3.10% by early next year. 'The risks appear to be skewed to the downside for inflation and this gives the RBA the green light to cut in August,' said Lucinda Jerogin, an economist at CBA, though she doubts it will move in September as well. 'There is a clear preference to wait for quarterly CPI prints, especially as we approach neutral,' she added. 'We favour November as the next most likely outcome for a cut and it would take a considerable weakening in the economic data to consider the September meeting 'live'.' Investors are also wagering the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will cut its 3.25% cash rate by a quarter point at the next meeting on August 20, though that could be the end of the cycle. It has already slashed rates by 225 basis points and it is very close to estimates of neutral, though some analysts argue policy should be flat-out stimulatory given the weakness of the economy. Key will be quarterly data on the labour market due next week where analysts predict the unemployment rate will rise to its highest in eight years at 5.3%, while wage growth is expected to slow to the lowest in four years at 2.3%.
Business Recorder
16 hours ago
- Business Recorder
China, HK stocks set for weekly fall on soft data, Trump tariffs
SHANGHAI: Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks extended their losses on Friday and looked set for a losing week, weighed by soft domestic economic data and worries over global trade following U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariffs. At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.19% at 3,566.55 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.25%. If both indexes retain losses at the market close, they will book their first weekly drop in six. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.18% to 24,727.78 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 0.01% to 8,882.04 points. Trump slapped steep tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners, pressing ahead with his plans to reorder the global economy ahead of a Friday trade deal deadline. 'The U.S. deals with other economies will also affect China's trade outlook,' economists at ANZ said in a note on Friday. 'If the U.S. fully enforces around 20% tariffs and 40% transshipment tariffs on ASEAN, which accounted for 17.8% of China's exports in the first half of this year, the supply chain activity in the region will be strained.' Meanwhile, the United States believes it has the makings of a trade deal with China, but it is 'not 100% done,' U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday. China's factory activity contracted in July, both official and private surveys showed, suggesting the economy lost momentum following robust growth in the first half of the year. 'After a more resilient than expected trade environment in the first half of 2025, momentum could soften a bit further in July,' said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, noting market attention will be shifted to trade data due next Thursday for more clues on the health of the broad economy.
