Inflation accelerated through March as a series of floods and a category-five cyclone in Queensland continued to drive up prices for fruit and vegetables, according to the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute Monthly Inflation Gauge.
The TD-MI inflation gauge rose 0.6% in March, following a 0.2% increase in February and 0.4% rise in January.
Demand for workers remained strong through the first quarter of 2011, defying floods, fire, storms and a surging dollar.
The total number of job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet rose 1.3% in seasonally adjusted terms in Mar from Feb, ANZ Bank, which compiles the data, said. Job ads over the first quarter were up 5.4% from the prior quarter.
Despite the worst flooding on record in Queensland in Jan and a category-five storm in February, the northern state, famous for its tourism and mining, saw job ads drop 2.9% in Mar, after a 32.6% rise in Feb.
The Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster dominated financial market news in March.
The All Ordinaries Index fell by as much as 7% at the height of nuclear concerns at the Fukushima power plant. The good news was that the Australian share market recovered strongly in the last week of the month and closed up 0.1% at 4,928.6 points.
Global markets (excluding Japan) followed a similar trend with the Dow Jones Index gaining 0.8%, the FTSE falling 1.4% and the Hang Seng gaining 0.8%.
An index of job vacancies for skilled workers rose 0.6% in Mar from Feb, but was 10% down from a year ago, the Department of Employment & Workplace Relations said.
The index currently stands at 41.6. Vacancies are counted on the first Saturday of every month. The declining on-year trend is expected to continue as employers move to online advertising and away from newspaper advertising, the department said in the report.
Manufacturing conditions have recovered smartly from a range of negative factors that dogged the sector in the latter part of 2010, a new survey shows.
Business confidence has jumped to a record high, while worries over a strong Australian dollar, rising interest rates and a slowdown in the housing market appear to have receded into the background for now.
The north-east region of Japan has sustained damage estimated at around US$180bn (3.3% of GDP) with the area representing about 8% of Japan’s economy.
Japan is the world’s third largest economy, with GDP of around US$5.4 trillion, representing about 9% of the global economy. While Japan is a significant economy, it has not been a major contributor to global growth in recent years.
The total number of houses and apartments that started construction in the fourth quarter of 2010 fell 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted 37,897 from the third quarter.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics also reported that the number of private-sector houses started in the fourth quarter fell 8.0% from the previous quarter to 23,342. The trend estimate for the total number of housing starts, which further smoothes the seasonally adjusted numbers, fell 4.6% from the third quarter to 38,375.
The value of personal finance in Jan fell 9.5% after seasonal adjustment from Dec to $6.90bn, the ABS said.
The decline in personal finance comprised a 14.5% fall in revolving credit and a 4.5% fall in fixed lending.
Commercial finance fell 5.8% in seasonally adjusted terms to $30.94bn. A fall of 9.7% in revolving credit for commercial finance was accompanied by a fall of 4.0% in fixed-lending commitments. The use of commercial finance for purchasing dwellings for rent or resale fell 4.6%.
Lease finance fell by 1.3% after seasonal adjustment to $434m.
A survey of inflationary expectations during Mar shows consumers expect prices to rise 3.6% over the next 12 months, down from 4.3% expected in Feb.
The MelbourneUniversity's Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research said 15.7% of those polled now expect inflation to fall back within the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2%-3% target band, compared with 14.1% in Feb.
The economy shed jobs in Feb for the first time in a year and half as part-time employment fell sharply over the month, but the data was a mixed bag with full-time employment rising strongly, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5%.
The total number of jobs fell 10,100, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The number of people in full-time work rose 47,600 but this was countered by the number of people in part-time work which fell 57,700.