Events that marked the week:
From Australia, on Wednesday, Construction Work Done and Wage Prices Index data was published. The trend estimate for total construction work done fell 1.6% in the December quarter 2015. The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell 3.6% to $48,413.4m in the December quarter. Analysts were expecting 2.1% decline. The trend estimate for total building work done rose 1.0% in the December quarter. The trend estimate for non-residential building work done rose 0.3% and residential building work rose 1.4%. The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done rose 2.7% to $24,990.2m in the December quarter.
Separate report on
Wage Price Index showed that the trend index and the seasonally adjusted index for Australia rose 0.5% in the December quarter 2015, missing forecasts on 0.6% increase. The Private and Public sectors both rose 0.5% seasonally adjusted. The rises in indexes at the industry level (in original terms) ranged from 0.1% for Mining and Administrative and support services to 1.1% for Financial and insurance services.
From Australia, on Thursday, Private Capital Expenditure figures were released. The trend volume estimate for total new capital expenditure fell 4.0% in the December quarter 2015 while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose 0.8%. Analysts were expecting 3.1% decrease. However in general, as markets price today on forward expectations, the first estimate of 2016/17 capex was just AUD82.6b which is down around $40b form this current year and at the low end of estimates ad the first estimate for non-mining capex for the same period is at 48b which is also weak.
This week markets will be looking at:
Company Operating Profit (Monday 1:30)
Building Approvals (Tuesday 1:30)
Current Account (Tuesday 1:30)
China's Manufacturing PMI (Tuesday 2:00)
Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Tuesday 2:45)
Cash Rate/RBA Rate Statement (Tuesday 4:30)
GDP (Wednesday 1:30)
Trade Balance (Thursday 1:30)
Retail Sales (Friday 1:30)
