Piling atop recent articles on Australia’s shrinking housing sector, today’s publication of Australian retail sales and its national trade balance show a broadening contraction striking several sectors of Australia’s economy. The retail sales figure, perhaps most shocking, witnessed contraction in June.
Expectations for the retail sales report was for a modest growth of 0.4% from last month’s contraction of 0.6%. The actual report of 0.1% shrinkage has led many investors to pull away from the Australian dollar (AUD) in recent trading. The nation’s trade balance also revealed sluggish growth of only A$2.05B as opposed to the expected A$2.22B, down from last month’s A$2.70B.
Read more forex trading news on our forex blog.
