On Thursday, Home Sales figures were released. During the month of May 2017, total new home sales increased by 1.1 per cent. This was helped by a 2.2 per cent increase in new detached house sales although multi-unit sales were down by 2.6 per cent during the month. Queensland experienced the largest increase in new detached house sales during the month (+31.1 per cent) followed by NSW (+16.8 per cent). The largest reduction in sales occurred in South Australia (-15.6 per cent). Reductions also affected the markets of Victoria (-14.7 per cent) and Western Australia (-3.4 per cent).
Focus of the Friday's session was on China's PMI figures. The Chinese economy grew at a slightly faster pace in June, with broad measures of manufacturing and services activity pointing to steady gains for the world’s biggest exporter. Beijing’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which focuses on large and state-run companies, climbed to half a point to 51.7 in June. Analysts called for a slight dip to 51.0. A separate gauge of China’s services sector also strengthened in June. The official non-manufacturing PMI rose to 54.9 after edging up to 54.5 the previous month. On the PMI scale, a reading above 50 points to expansion in the sector. A total of 4,200 purchasing managers are consulted on the monthly PMIs.
This week markets will be looking at:
Building Approvals (Monday 3:30)
Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Monday 3:45)
Retail Sales (Tuesday 6:30)
RBA Rate Statement/Cash Rate (Tuesday 6:30)
Trade Balance (Thursday 3:30)
