Australian business conditions rebounds in January

Australian business conditions rebounded in January following a sharp fall in the prior month. It bounced to a bit over the long-run average level; however, it continues to be well below the levels of mid-2018.

Business conditions rose to 6.6 in January. The details of the report were in line with the headline, which is modest improvement, but still at levels well below those of second half of 2018. Profitability rose, the employment index rose a bit and forward orders came back into positive territory. However, capacity utilization dropped to 81.4 percent, its lowest level in almost two years.

The bounce in conditions was more pronounced in South Australia, where conditions rose to 17 after coming in at -15 in December. Broadly, the fall in conditions since mid-2018 has been most marked in Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria, noted ANZ in a research report. Throughout industries, there were strong rebounds in the transport and construction sectors, while the retail sector continued to be firmly in the red.

At 10:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was neutral at -1.73972, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 86.4522 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex