Post on the data is here:
Australian preliminary PMI (September): Manufacturing 53.9 (prior 53.8)
Digging into the analysis commentary from the S&P / Markit report has this:
- September data indicated that the recent interest rate hikes made by the RBA have begun to have the desired effect in terms of prices. Inflationary pressures have eased significantly, with rates of input and output cost inflation both dipping to seven-month lows.
- At the same time, the private sector has remained in expansion territory with the pace of growth even accelerating very slightly from August.
- On the negative side, the full effects of recent interest rate hikes will be lagged - taking a while to feed through onto consumer demand patterns and subsequent economic data. Should the RBA continue to increase the base rate further, the private sector economy may be at risk of heading into contraction territory in the future as disposable incomes across the nation tighten and overall demand conditions remain subdued. Latest survey data has already provided some evidence of this with the rates of expansion in output and demand only mild in September, and business confidence the lowest since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drop in inflation pressure will be welcomed by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
This is a lower-tier data release but nevertheless if its confirmed at the final release (next week) its an encouraging development.
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Forex movement has pretty much dried up while we await Asian markets becoming a little more active. AUD/USD update:
