Australia Market climbs on building permits, payroll data

The Australian share market finished higher for third consecutive session on Thursday, 10 February 2022, on tracking the positive lead from Wall Street overnight, with better than expected Australia Building Permits and payroll jobs, and improvement in business turnover further underpinned sentiments.

Market gains were, however, limited as traders were cautious ahead of US inflation data releasing later in global day. Investors will watch consumer price data on Thursday for clues on the Federal Reserve's plans to hike interest rates. An unexpectedly strong jobs report last week raised concerns of a more aggressive move by the central bank.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 added 20.12 points, or 0.28%, to 7,288.45. The broader All Ordinaries index rose 22.62 points, or 0.3%, to 7,595.46.

Among individual stocks, AGL Energy declined after the energy company swung to a statutory after-tax profit of AU$555 million ($398 million) in the half-year ended Dec. 31, 2021, from a loss of AU$2.28 billion a year earlier.

Lender National Australia Bank surged 4.5% after reporting a 9% rise in first-quarter profit, driven by a growth in its home and business lending.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) ceased its quantitative easing campaign today after buying up more than A$350 billion in bonds as part of a massive pandemic stimulus package.

Australia Building Permits Climb 8.2% On Month In December- Australia housing permits was up a seasonally adjusted 8.2% on month in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, coming in at 17,698, and up from 2.6% in November. Approvals for private sector houses fell 1.8% on month to 10,444, while approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses surged 27.5% to 7,008. On a yearly basis, overall approvals fell 7.5%, private sector houses tumbled 21.3% and dwellings excluding houses jumped 24.5%.

Australian payroll jobs rose 1% in the first half of January, rebounding from the 6.8% fall in the last fortnight of December 2021, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted Australian business turnover increased in seven of 13 selected industries in December 2021 from the previous month, as the easing of COVID-19 restrictions benefitted some industries, according to data from the statistics agency.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7173, largely holding on to gains after its climb from below $0.712 earlier in the week.

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