Date Time
Retail sales rose 7.0% in November: Australia
Australian retail turnover rose 7.0 per cent in November 2020, seasonally adjusted, according to preliminary retail trade figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Turnover rose 13.2 per cent when compared to November 2019.
Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, said: “Victoria saw a large rise, up 21 per cent, as retail stores experienced a full month of trade following the easing of coronavirus restrictions in that state. Excluding Victoria, retail sales rose 2.7 per cent.
South Australia, which saw a short lockdown within November, had a flat result. Most South Australian retail industries saw falls as a result of temporary store closures, although these falls were offset by a rise in supermarket sales.”
The Australian share market finished session lower on Tuesday, 22 December 2020, as investor sentiment was dampened by business restrictions and flight bans in Europe and other countries as a result of the rampant spread of a new strain of COVID-19 in Britain that could impact the recovery of the global economy.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 declined 70.31 points, or 1.05%, to 6,599.57. The broader All Ordinaries dropped 74.57 points, or 1.08%, to 6,845.47.
The market grappled by risk-off environment after news that the E. U. was banning United Kingdom flights to Europe due to fears about a new strain of coronavirus, said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original. A more-virulent strain of the coronavirus in Britain sparked fears of fresh disruptions and weighed on investors expectations of a vaccine-led economic rebound.
Dec 22, 2020 18:17 GMTFXStreet News
AUD/USD lost its traction during American trading hours.
Negative shift in market sentiment helps USD gather strength.
US Dollar Index climbs to fresh daily highs above 90.50.
The AUD/USD pair came under bearish pressure during the American trading hours and slumped to a daily low of 0.7517. As of writing, the pair was down 0.7% on the day at 0.7532.
DXY pushes higher in the second half of the day
Earlier in the day, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that it revised the third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 33.4% in its third estimate from 33.1% previously. This report, however, failed to provide a boost to market sentiment.
318.3
/ABS Public Release. This material comes from the originating organization and may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. View in full here.
Why?
Well, unlike many news organisations, we have no sponsors, no corporate or ideological interests. We don t put up a paywall – we believe in free access to information of public interest.
Media ownership in Australia is one of the most concentrated in the world (Learn more). Since the trend of consolidation is and has historically been upward, fewer and fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media in our country. According to independent assessment, about 98% of the media sector is held by three conglomerates. This tendency is not only totally unacceptable, but also to a degree frightening). Learn more here