The business activity of Australia's private sector fell slightly in December, with key indicators coming in lower than in the previous month, according to S&P Global's preliminary report released on Sunday.
The activity in the Australian services sector landed above the neutral 50 mark, with the Judo Bank Flash Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index coming in at 50.4, easing from the previous month's figure of 50.5. Meanwhile, the Manufacturing PMI dropped from 49.4 in November to 48.2 in December. The composite PMI, which takes into account the results achieved in the two aforementioned sectors, went down from last month's 50.2 to 49.9.
"The softening of business conditions and muted selling price inflation are supportive of the lowering of interest rates by the Australian central bank in the new year, though rising cost pressure will need to be monitored for passthrough to selling prices in the coming months." Jingyi Pan, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence said.
More to come...
