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.
An index of consumer sentiment fell 2.4% in Mar from Feb.
The index fell to 104.1 points in Mar in seasonally adjusted terms from 106.6 points in Feb, compilers Westpac and the Melbourne Institute said. In annual terms, the consumer sentiment index fell a seasonally adjusted 11.3% from Mar 2010. In trend terms, the index fell 0.2% from Feb, contributing to a 9.8% annual decline.
The total number of job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet rose 1.2% in seasonally adjusted terms in Feb from the previous month to an average of 193,555 ads per week, contributing to a 19.3% annual rise, ANZ said.
The number of Internet job advertisements rose 1.0% in Feb from Jan, contributing to an annual rise of 20.8% in seasonally adjusted terms. Job advertisements in newspapers rose 4.4% from Jan, contributing to a 3.7% annual fall. The survey data implies 28,000 new jobs were created in Feb, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 5%.
The simple summary is BHP and banks were the clear winners and large industrials were disappointing.
This reflects the "two speed" nature of the Australian economy (not surprisingly resources bounced 3.7% during the month compared to 1.7% for industrials).
Sales of new cars and trucks in Australia fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in February from January, according to industry figures.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said in its monthly VFACTS report that 80,896 vehicles were sold in February, 1.6% more than in February 2010 in original terms.
Year-to-date industry sales were 154,480 vehicles, down 1.7% or 2,603 vehicles from the same time a year earlier. The FCAI said passenger vehicle sales fell 5.0% in February on year, while sales of sports utilities were up 4.7%.
The total number of Australian houses and apartments approved for construction fell a seasonally adjusted 15.9% in January from December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
Economists had expected on average that total residential building approvals fell 3.0% from the month before. Private-sector house approvals fell a seasonally adjusted 2.4% from a month earlier and fell 18.8% from a year earlier, the ABS said.
Australia's seasonally adjusted trade surplus narrowed to $1.88bn in January from a surplus of $2.02bn in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The figure is wider than analysts' expectations of a surplus of $1.5bn.
New homes sales rose 2.5% in Jan from Dec according to a report by the Housing Industry Association in conjunction with manufacturing group JELD-WEN.
Detached house sales increased by 2.2% while the sale of multi-units rose 5%. Total detached house sales increased by 3.7% over the three months to Jan 2011 but remained down by 9.8% when compared with the three month period to Jan 2010.
The economy grew solidly in the fourth quarter of 2010, increasing 0.7% from the third quarter and by 2.7% from the year-earlier period, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
The main contributors to growth in the quarter were a sharp rise in plant and machinery equipment and a rise in store inventories. A fall in construction detracted from growth.
Civil unrest in the Middle East and a relatively poor domestic reporting season were the hot topics of the month.
The All Ordinaries Index shrugged off the negative sentiment to gain 1.5% and close February at 4,922.6 points.
Global markets were also generally positive with the Dow Jones Index gaining 2.8%, the FTSE gaining 1.7%, the Hang Seng falling 0.5% and the Nikkei 225 Index gaining 3.8%.