Australian weekly consumer sentiment rises strongly to above long-run average

Australian weekly consumer sentiment rises. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian consumer confidence rose 2.6 percent last week. The rise has led to the index closing near its one month high. The sub-indices came in higher, with the exception of current financial conditions that dropped 1.5 percent. Future financial conditions were up modestly by 0.4 percent after the decline of 3.3 percent last week.

Current economic conditions rose 8.1 percent compared to a fall of 0.1 percent previously. Future economic conditions rose 1.3 percent. The ‘time to buy a household item’ firmed a bit, rising 5 percent. The four-week moving average inflation expectations remained stable at 4 percent, though the weekly reading dropped sharply.

“Consumers head into the Budget with confidence above average and at the highest level for some weeks. Talk of additional tax cuts and spending may be supporting sentiment. News that job vacancies are continuing to lift may also have provided a boost. There is a lot of news this week that could impact how consumers perceive the outlook, not least the RBA statement and the Budget”, said ANZ Senior Economist, David Plank.

At 11:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was neutral at 14.6945 while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bearish at 79.9475 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex