Economic and market news
In Australian economic news this week there has been discussion about the prospect that a strong inflation outturn for the June quarter, when it is published this week, will all but guarantee a tightening of monetary policy when the Reserve Bank of Australia Board meets next Tuesday.
Alongside this, the markets are watching the Bank of Japan in the prospect of an interest rate rise, from its long term ‘artificial lows’.
The Federal Reserve Board in the United States is also meeting on Wednesday. No change in interest rates is expected by markets. However, the tone of the discussion at the post-decision press conference will be keenly watched by markets and commentators, in light of the fact that the economy grew by more than expected over the last quarter according to new data. Gross domestic product accelerated to an annualised rate of 2.8 per cent annualised rate in the three months to end June, up from 1.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
Australian indices
ASX 200: Fell 0.22 per cent over the week to close at 7953.2 points on Tuesday.
All Ordinaries: Fell 0.39 per cent in the period to close at 8176.6 points on Tuesday.
Government Bonds
Government Bond Yields (Source: Bloomberg)
|
NAME |
COUPON |
PRICE |
YIELD |
1 DAY |
1 MONTH |
1 YEAR |
|
GTAUD2Y:GOV Australia Bond 2 Year Yield |
4.25
|
100.25 |
4.09% |
+1 |
-7 |
+15 |
|
GTAUD5Y:GOV Australia Bond 5 Year Yield |
3.25 |
96.84 |
3.98% |
+1 |
-8 |
+12 |
|
GTAUD10Y:GOV Australia Bond 10 Year Yield |
3.75 |
95.79 |
4.28% |
+0 |
-3 |
+21 |
|
GTAUD15Y:GOV Australia Bond 15 Year Yield |
3.25 |
86.65 |
4.48% |
+0 |
-1 |
+20 |
Reserve Bank of Australia (Source:RBA)
|
RBA CASH RATE TARGET (RBATCTR:IND) CURRENT (per cent) |
MOST RECENT DECISION (percentage points) |
MOST RECENT CHANGE (percentage points) |
1 YEAR PRIOR (per cent) |
|
4.35 |
+0 (18 June 2024 ) |
+0.25 (7 November 2023) |
4.10 |
Currencies (source:RBA)
As at the close on 30 July the AUD/USD had fallen another 1.16 per cent over the week, closing at 0.6556 on Tuesday. The AUD/RMB had also fallen, 1.33 per cent, in the period, closing at 4.7610 on Tuesday.
Venture Capital
Morse Micro
Stoic investee Morse Micro has been nominated for the EDGE Awards in the Communication category. This is for its development of the industry’s smallest, fastest and lowest-power Wi-Fi HaLow SoCs and module, which addresses use cases from consumer to commercial, and industrial to agricultural.
Property
In property news this week, the national auction clearance rate rose slightly after two weeks of holding steady. The uptick to 72.2 per cent last week, (from 71.1 per cent) was accompanied by a rise in the volume of auctions, to 1,930. This was the largest volume of auctions since the last week of June.
