Australian share market’s rise

The Australian share market’s rise to a fresh 10-month high on Monday was erased by a fall in Asian share markets, leaving traders wary of profit taking after sharp gains in the Australian market since March.

Banks sustained their gains on the back of a positive trading update from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, while resources succumbed to falls in Chinese and Japanese equity markets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 10.5 points or 0.2% at 4479.1 after hitting 4537.2 in early trading.

The index was up 43% from its March low and 21% above its July low, thanks to signs of global economic recovery and a better-than-expected Australian earnings period.

It rose 5.5% in August, notching up its sixth-consecutive monthly gain.

Australian economy shines

The Australian economy may be faring better than most, but the global economic crisis is hitting profits and wages hard

The slump in profits and wages is sizeable. Company profits fell by 7.8 per cent in the three months to June, Mark, to be almost 15 per cent lower than a year ago and wages fell by 1.1 per cent, they’ve fallen now for the past six months wages and it’s very unusual for wages to actually be going backwards.
It was a tale of different sectors however; you had a big fall in mining profits with the cuts to commodity prices, you had slight falls in profits in wholesale trade and construction as margins got squeezed, but in the retail sector, profits were up nearly nine per cent in the quarter and up more than 20 per cent on a year ago, so the retail sector, thanks to the government stimulus has had a boom.