Job ads higher, inflation weakens in March quarter: Midday Roundup

Australian job ads in newspapers and online rose by 1.3% last month, taking the annual lift to 19.2%, according to the ANZ Job Advertisements series.

ANZ says the rise suggests the Australian economy “continues to create jobs in spite of the somewhat diverse rates of economic growth by region and industry sector.”

The bank highlights growth in Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory in March, but was surprised by weakness in advertising in the state of Western Australia.

ANZ reaffirmed its expectations for a lift in the official cash rate next year.

Inflation growth weakens in March quarter

In other news, the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute says its trimmed means of measure underlying inflation lifted 0.3% in March, to be 2.4% higher for the year, lower than the headline consumer price increase of 0.6% for the quarter.

The survey showed 30 goods and services fell in price over the three months to the end of March, while 18 rose and 42 remained steady.

The figures come as the market awaits the Reserve Bank’s monthly meeting tomorrow. Most expect the central bank to keep rates steady at 4.75%, where they have sat since November last year.

“We expect the RBA Board tomorrow to again signal that it can comfortably remain on the sidelines for several months to wait out the impact of various natural and geopolitical risks buffeting global and local economic activity,” TD’s head of Asia-Pacific Research Annette Beacher says.

“As we expect another fairly benign underlying CPI report, we have lowered our expectations for RBA tightening this year from 100 basis points to 50 basis points.”

Australian sharemarket starts week higher

The Australian sharemarket has had a positive start to the week, after receiving positive leads from Wall Street and positive commodity prices.

The big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto led the market higher. The benchmark ASX/S&P 200 index was up 0.71% or 34 points to 4896.10 at 1215 AEST.

The market also took note of yet another high in the Australian dollar. The dollar touched $1.04 overnight and is now trading slightly lower at $1.03.

iSoft skyrockets after takeover deal with CSC

Shares in healthcare solutions group iSoft have soared after confirming a scheme of arrangement takeover deal with New York-listed outsourcer CSC.

But the 17-cent-per-share offer, subject to shareholder approval, remains at a premium to iSoft’s sweetened price.

At just midday, iSoft’s shares had skyrocketed 170% to 14 cents.