Australian dwelling approvals likely to have fallen in July

Australian dwelling approvals had rebounded in June, coming above expectations at 6.4 percent. The detail affirmed May’s 2.5 percent decline was likely a data issue with Qld approvals improving from their extreme fall. Outside of this, the picture is more mixed but is clearly not indicating the anticipated softening, especially across high rise that saw a relative strong month.

According to a Westpac research report, approvals are expected to have dropped 3 percent in July with some risk of a sharper decline. Construction-related finance approvals have been indicating towards a pull-back in non-high rise approvals for many months now, a shift that has not yet materialized.

“Similarly, site purchases have been pointing to a further sharp leg lower for high rise approvals for some time now”, added Westpac.

At 14:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was bullish at 92.5628, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -138.845. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex