Australian weekly consumer sentiment came in positive, reversing the previous week’s loss. All the sub-indices came in positive. The survey coincided with the election, therefore much of the gain likely reflects the effect of the surprise win by the Coalition, noted ANZ in a research report.
The current financial conditions index rose 0.5 percent, while future financial conditions rose 1.2 percent. Economic conditions, which mainly dragged the headline index down prior week, also came in the positive territory. Current economic conditions rose 3.8 percent, compared to a fall of 8.1 percent last week. Meanwhile, future economic conditions index rose 0.9 percent.
The ‘time to buy a household item’ also rose considerably, rising 4.1 percent to its highest level since the end of March. The four-week moving average for inflation expectations dropped 0.1 percentage points to 4.1 percent.
“The surprise election result, which people surveyed on Sunday would have known, most likely had a significant impact on sentiment. After all, the tone of the domestic economic data released during the week prior to the survey (falling business conditions, modest wage gains and rising unemployment) would not have provided much of a boost to confidence. The move only reverses the prior week’s fall, however, so we won’t overplay it. Still, it leaves consumer sentiment above average”, stated ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank.
At 12:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was highly bearish at -52.4083 while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 90.0332 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
