Economic and market news
This week, new data showed that inflation held steady at 3.4 per cent in the year to end-January, this was a little below market expectations.
Alongside that, figures showed that retail sales rose 1.1 per cent in January, after falling 2.1 per cent in December.
It was suggested that the rebound in January has returned retail turnover to the level seen in September 2023, following a sharp fall in December when consumers pulled back on spending after taking advantage of Black Friday sales in November.
Retail turnover was unchanged in trend terms in January. This means there has been no growth in retail turnover when the volatility of the past few months is ‘looked through’.
In overseas news, core US inflation in January rose to the highest rate in over a year. Data show that when the volatile food and energy components are stripped from the wider consumer prices index, ‘underlying’ prices increased by 0.4 per cent in the month and 2.8 per cent over the year.
Australian indices
ASX 200: Was up 0.80 per cent over the week to close at 7724.2 points on Tuesday.
All Ordinaries: Was up 0.83 per cent in the period, closing at 7988.3 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 |
0.25
|
94.22 |
3.77% |
0 |
0 |
+18 |
|
GTAUD5Y:GOV Australia Bond 5 Year Yield |
2.75 |
95.82 |
3.72% |
0 |
0 |
+5 |
|
GTAUD10Y:GOV Australia Bond 10 Year Yield |
3.00 |
91.33 |
4.09% |
-1 |
0 |
+19 |
|
GTAUD15Y:GOV Australia Bond 15 Year Yield |
3.25 |
88.16 |
4.30% |
-1 |
0 |
+14 |
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 (6 February 2024) |
+0.25 (7 November 2023) |
3.35 |
Currencies(source:RBA)
As at the close on 5 March, the AUD/USD was down 0.64 per cent, over the week, closing at 0.6502 on Tuesday. The AUD/RMB was down 0.64 per cent, in the period, closing at 4.6802 on Tuesday.
Venture Capital
Morse Micro
Stoic investee Morse Micro announced a collaboration with Silex Technology to introduce a new industrial-grade Wi-Fi HaLow module developed for IoT applications. The SX-SDMAH module combines the robust features of Silex’s wireless modules, renowned for their small form factor, extended temperature range, and product longevity, with Morse Micro’s MM6108 Wi-Fi HaLow SoC, which maximizes wireless range, coverage area, and power efficiency for IoT devices.
Property
This week, new data show that the national auction clearance rate fell again, amid buyer caution about the economic outlook and the prospect of higher borrowing costs.
The week’s preliminary clearance rate slipped to 71.8 per cent from 73.5 per cent a week earlier (revised down to 68.2 per cent) which, in turn, had fallen by 2 percentage points from the week before.
