Holden Commodore sales down as it bows out; Services sector slips in December: Midday Roundup

Holden had its worst year in sales of locally built cars in 2013, as it bows out of manufacturing in Australia, according to The Australian.

Sales were down 9% on 2012 for its Commodore model, with fewer than 28,000 buyers, the newspaper reported.

The figures went against a trend which saw the overall car sales market in Australia soar to a record high.

The Commodore came fifth in the sales charts, behind a Korean small car.

Holden will quit manufacturing in Australia in 2017.

Services sector slips in December

The Australian services sector has declined in December, finishing 2013 in negative figures, as it remains in contraction.

The Australian Industry Group’s Performance of Services Index was down 2.8 points to 46.1 in December, with readings below 50 indicating contraction.

Employment in the sector dropped to 47.7 points on the index, while new orders also fell, decreasing by 3.6 points to 43.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said in a statement the negative month had “stunted the green shoots that appeared following the federal election”.

“While sales continued to claw back towards positive territory, both employment and new orders slipped further into the red bringing into question the tentative optimism that characterised the previous couple of months,” he says.

Shares fall on open

Aussie shares have slipped on open this morning, defying analysts’ expectations of a positive start.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 12.3 points to 5337.8 at 12:02pm AEDT. Overnight on Friday the Dow Jones closed 28.64 points higher, up 0.17% to 16,469.99.