Dollar falls to three month low: Midday roundup

The Australian dollar has plunged to a three month low following negativity about the Australian economy.

The currency was trading at $US1.0166, just short of its low point of $US1.0152 and down from $US1.0251 on Friday.

The dollar was also lower against other currencies, hitting ¥80.18, 78.11 euro cents and 62.995 pence.

Job advertising falls a further 2.8% in September

The number of job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers fell 2.8% in September, following a decline of 2.4% in August, according to research by ANZ.

This was the sixth consecutive monthly decline, with job advertisements now 10.8% lower than a year ago.

Ivan Colhoun, head of Australian economics and property research at ANZ, said the trend in newspaper and internet job advertisements is a signal of a softening labour market.

“Total advertisements have fallen for the past six months, and in more recent times this decline has been seen across all states,” he said.

“When this last occurred, in the second half of 2011, Australian employment growth slowed.”

Surf Stitch expands to Europe

SurfStitch today announced the launch of the business’ European operations, with the opening of dedicated headquarters in France including an 8,000sqm purpose built distribution centre.

“We’ve tried and tested this model in Australia, and have also been serving customers globally from the very beginning,” said SurfStitch’s managing director Justin Cameron.

“With SurfStitch now also located in Europe, customers can expect an even stronger online retail experience.”

Stock market opens flat

The Australian stock market opened with little change following a lacklustre weekend lead from the United States, where employment figures came in better than expected.

At the official market open, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slipped just 0.09% to 4,494.80 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 0.06% to 4,511.10.