Housing starts fall in December quarter, Shares recover: Midday Roundup

Housing starts fell by a seasonally adjusted 5.3% in the December quarter, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The result comes after a shocking fall of 13% in the September quarter.

The ABS found the adjusted estimate for new private sector housing starts fell by 8%, following a 5.4% fall in the September quarter.

The estimate for the amount of starts of “other” residential dwellings rose by 4.2%, following a fall of 8.1%.

Over the year, dwelling starts fell by 7.3%.

Westpac leading index falls

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index, which predicts the likely pace of economic growth three to nine months in the future, fell in January from 4.6% to 3.5%.

Senior economist Matthew Hassan said the index is the first to record the impact from the natural disasters in Queensland.

“The monthly fall in the growth rate dip is likely to be followed by more volatility in coming months as the initial hit from the Queensland floods drops out, but we see negative impacts from other events.”

“Cyclone Yasi in early February and in particular the massive earthquake in Japan in March.”

Hassan added the index may record more volatile results in the first half of the year.

“While February may see some reversal in dwelling approvals and a more positive contribution from the sharemarket, Japan’s earthquake crisis is set to have a big negative impact in March with local shares down 6.3% in the first half of the month.”

Shares higher despite disappointing leads

The Australian sharemarket has higher this morning despite a disappointing night, during which overseas stocks fell due to fears over the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 1.14% or 51 points to 4580.3 at 12.10 AEST, while the Australian dollar has fallen below parity to US99c.

Qantas shares rose 2.83% to $2.18, while Santos shares rose 2.9% to $14.1. BHP shares gained $2.58 to $44.1, while Seek gained 3.28% to $6.29.

Disappointing night on Wall Street

Major stocks fell slightly overnight on Wall Street, where investors are still concerned over the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 137 points or 1.15% to 11,855.42.

However, investors were given a confidence boost when the Fed Reserve announced there would be no need for a third round of quantitative easing.

Coles argues on behalf of dairy farmers

In a submission to the Senate inquiry on milk prices, Coles has argued that dairy farmers should be given greater protection.

“Coles has not sought to, nor wishes to, harm dairy farmers,” it said in the submission.

“For this reason, Coles fully absorbed the lower retail milk prices in its own retail margins… rather than ask milk processing companies to pay for it.”

Coles argues that if farmers were given more clout in determining pricing with processors, they would get a fairer deal.

Telstra senior director resigns

Telstra has announced its group managing director of human resources, Andrea Grant, will resign effective March 18.

“Andrea has transformed the human resources portfolio at a time of enormous change in the internal and external environments,” chief executive David Thodey said in a statement.