Australia trade surplus widened to a fresh record high of AUD 5.7B in May, up fro AUD 4.8B in April, and beat expectation of USD 5.3B.
Exports rose AUD 1,442M (4%) to AUD41,585m. Non-rural goods rose AUD 1,316M (5%), rural goods rose AUD 46M (1%) and non-monetary gold rose AUD 22M (1%). Net exports of goods under merchanting fell AUD 1M (5%). Services credits rose AUD 58M (1%).
Import rose AUD515m (1%) to AUD 35,839M. Capital goods rose AUD 348M (5%), non-monetary gold rose AUD 68M (17%) and intermediate and other merchandise goods rose AUD 66M (1%). Consumption goods fell AUD 73M (1%). Services debits rose AUD 107M (1%).
Also from Australia, building approvals rose 0.7% (seasonally adjusted) in May, versus expectation of 0.0%. Rise in Victoria (14.4%) drove the national increase. Meanwhile falls were recorded in Queensland (6.3%), Western Australia (4.7%), South Australia (2.9%) and Tasmania (1.2%), while New South Wales was flat. Private dwellings excluding houses rose 1.2 per cent, while private house approvals decreased 0.3 per cent.
