Separate report on Building Approval showed that number of dwellings approved rose 0.8 per cent in February 2017, in trend terms, after falling for eight months, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. Dwelling approvals increased in February in New South Wales (2.5 per cent), Victoria (1.4 per cent), Tasmania (0.9 per cent) and South Australia (0.5 per cent), but decreased in the Australian Capital Territory (15.6 per cent), Northern Territory (12.3 per cent), Queensland (0.7 per cent) and Western Australia (0.2 per cent) in trend terms.
From Australia, on Tuesday, Trade Balance figures were released. In trend terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $3,320m in February 2017, an increase of $545m (20%) on the surplus in January 2017. In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $3,574m in February 2017, an increase of $2,071m on the surplus in January 2017. In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits rose $469m (1%) to $32,405m.
However the focus of the session was on RBA interest rate decision. At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent. Taking account of the available information, the Board judged that holding the stance of monetary policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time.
This week markets will be looking at:
NAB Business Confidence (Tuesday 3:30)
China's CPI/PPI (Wednesday 3:30)
Employment Change/Unemployment Rate (Thursday 3:30)
