Economic and market news
In Australian economic news, data show that inflation rose in April. The monthly inflation figure rose to 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to end-April, up from 3.5 per cent in March. Inflation has been relatively stable over the past five months, although this is the second month in a row that annual inflation has seen a small increase. The measure of price pressures excluding volatile items held steady in April at 4.1 per cent.
Alongside this, the Federal Government announced a 3.75 per cent increase in the national minimum wage. Prior to the announcement of this pay rise for the lowest paid workers in Australia, to help counteract the rising cost of living, there had been widespread concern that the Fair Work Commission would decide upon a jump of 4 per cent or more. Markets and commentators were worried that this would have the potential to ‘stoke’ the already sticky rate of inflation. The independent pay-setting body suggested in its announcement that it considered that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to go higher that the 3.75 per cent raise because of poor labour productivity. More than 2.6 million workers will benefit from the increase.
Australian indices
ASX 200: Fell slightly, 0.38 per cent, over the week to close at 7737.1 points on Tuesday.
All Ordinaries: Fell 0.5 per cent in the period, closing at 7994.1 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
|
100.36 |
4.04% |
-5 |
-5 |
+40 |
|
GTAUD5Y:GOV Australia Bond 5 Year Yield |
3.25 |
96.65 |
4.01% |
-5 |
-8 |
+59 |
|
GTAUD10Y:GOV Australia Bond 10 Year Yield |
3.75 |
95.55 |
4.30% |
-7 |
-11 |
+66 |
|
GTAUD15Y:GOV Australia Bond 15 Year Yield |
3.25 |
86.45 |
4.49% |
-7 |
-12 |
+53 |
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 (7 May 2024) |
+0.25 (7 November 2023) |
3.85 |
Currencies (source:RBA)
As at the close on 4 June the AUD/USD was almost unchanged over the week (up by 0.01) per cent), closing at 0.6668 on Tuesday. The AUD/RMB was also up 0.01 per cent, in the period, closing at 4.8315 on Tuesday.
Venture Capital
Cardihab
Stoic investee Cardihab has announced a new partnership with Bupa and Honeysuckle Health to expand access to its digital therapeutic for cardiac rehabilitation.
Bupa is one of Australia’s largest private health insurers and is a healthcare partner to more than 4.3 million customers. This partnership has the potential to make a significant difference in improving cardiac rehab participation rates, quality of life and outcomes for people living with heart disease. Health service company Honeysuckle Health will deliver the program via their team of registered nurses and virtual healthcare specialists.
ENA Respiratory
Stoic investee ENA Respiratory shared the story of how the vision of aworld in which viral respiratory infections are no longer a major threat for at-risk populations is what drives the development of its key product INNA-051.
Morse Micro
Stoic investee Morse Micro revealed that it was judged number three in Startmate’s ‘top 20 most valuable investments’, as seen in Forbes Australia.
Property
In property news this week, new data show that the national preliminary clearance rate was in line with last week at 71.4 per cent, down from 71.5 per cent. However, this figure concealed a softening in the clearance rates in the major capitals thanks to a surge in properties being put forward for auction.
Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rates dipped by 1.3 percentage points to 71.4 per cent over the weekend, the weakest result this year. Melbourne’s rate fell to 69.4 per cent, down from 71.2 per cent last week.
Elsewhere, it was noted that Sydney’s home values have fully recovered from the downturn after gaining 0.6 per cent in May. This was the fastest pace of growth in three months. Since bottoming out in January last year, prices have now increased by a total of 14.1 per cent. The city’s median dwelling value is on track to hit new highs in the coming weeks after bouncing back to $1,156,020, which matches the record set in January 2022.
