[Sydney 10th Reuters]-National Australian Bank (NAB) released a business sentiment index in August, down 2 points from the previous month to plus one. It declined following July.
The corporate confidence index fell by 3 points to plus 1.
NAB pointed out that both indexes are well below the long-term average, and explained that the RBA's policy interest rate outlook will be revised on the 11th. The NAB currently expects the central bank to cut interest rates once later this year, reducing interest rates to 0.75%.
“Corporate confidence and other leading indicators show that it is unlikely that the current state of the company will soon improve,” said NAB Group chief economist Alan Oster. “The business sentiment has remained in the positive range, but it has been below the average recently, indicating that the momentum in private demand has declined significantly.”
The index related to future orders reflecting domestic demand trends fell from minus 3 to minus 4.
There was no inflation index, and labor and retail costs grew only modestly.
On the other hand, the employment index rose by 2 points to +2.
