Greg Gibbs, Director at Amplifying Global FX Capital, suggests that the Australian PMI data tends to be erratic but it is notable that manufacturing and service sector readings have recovered from lows for the year in August. 

Key Quotes

“Manufacturing is up from 46.9 in Aug to 55.4 in Dec.  Services is up from 45.0 in Aug to 57.7 in Dec, a high since May 2007.  The construction PMI has been relatively weaker in recent months (46.6 in Nov); its December reading is due on Monday 9 Jan.”

“Australian PMIs

The AiGroup that release the PMI data wrote that respondents to the services PMIs survey noted “increased orders from the mining sector; a lower value for the Australian dollar; interest rates remaining stable and (for regional services) good agricultural harvests. Overall, there was a sense of increased confidence from respondents across many services sub-sectors.”

Australian credit growth (released on 30 Dec) showed rising momentum for business and housing investor credit growth. Business credit growth has risen on a 3mth moving average basis from a low in August to a high in November since May.  Housing investor credit growth has been building momentum since around mid-2016 to a high since Sep-2015.”