Sales continue to improve
(25 October 2011 – Australia) Business sales continued to show signs of improvement in September, posting the best result in two years reported the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI).
The BSI is a key measure of economy-wide spending, tracking the value of credit and debit card transactions processed through Commonwealth Bank point-of-sale terminals, a sample of approximately 30 percent of the Australian market. The BSI rose by 0.2 percent in September.
According to Matt Comyn, Executive General Manager, Local Business Banking, Commonwealth Bank, the latest figures are a welcome result, with consumers beginning to relax their grip on their purse strings.
"Last month we noted that brighter times may lie ahead for Australian businesses and it’s pleasing to see that the figures for September have given us the best result we have seen in almost two years," said Mr Comyn.
"This is the first positive increase witnessed for some time and the fact that the number of sectors reporting weaker sales has also eased is good news for Australian businesses."
Three of the states and territories recorded weaker sales in trend terms in September, down from four in August and five in July. The weakest result was in Western Australia (down 0.6 percent) followed by ACT (down 0.4 percent) and South Australia (down 0.2 percent). The ACT had shown consistent growth over the eight months to May before flattening in June and then falling from July to September.
Of the other states and territories, strongest was Northern Territory (up 1.0 percent) followed by Tasmania (up 0.5 percent) and New South Wales (up 0.3 percent), the latter State seeing the strongest reading in ten months. Sales were flat in Queensland.
"The latest BSI is important as we are starting to see some strength in the numbers and a better result more broadly in the Australian economy," said Mr James. "Consumers are also likely to be buoyed by recent news from the RBA, which has given us some of the strongest signs yet of a potential rate reduction in November."
According to Matt Comyn, Executive General Manager, Local Business Banking, Commonwealth Bank, the latest figures are a welcome result, with consumers beginning to relax their grip on their purse strings.
"Last month we noted that brighter times may lie ahead for Australian businesses and it’s pleasing to see that the figures for September have given us the best result we have seen in almost two years," said Mr Comyn.
"This is the first positive increase witnessed for some time and the fact that the number of sectors reporting weaker sales has also eased is good news for Australian businesses."
Three of the states and territories recorded weaker sales in trend terms in September, down from four in August and five in July. The weakest result was in Western Australia (down 0.6 percent) followed by ACT (down 0.4 percent) and South Australia (down 0.2 percent). The ACT had shown consistent growth over the eight months to May before flattening in June and then falling from July to September.
Of the other states and territories, strongest was Northern Territory (up 1.0 percent) followed by Tasmania (up 0.5 percent) and New South Wales (up 0.3 percent), the latter State seeing the strongest reading in ten months. Sales were flat in Queensland.
"The latest BSI is important as we are starting to see some strength in the numbers and a better result more broadly in the Australian economy," said Mr James. "Consumers are also likely to be buoyed by recent news from the RBA, which has given us some of the strongest signs yet of a potential rate reduction in November."
Subscribe