In May, Australian retail trade surged by 0.6 percent, surpassing expectations with strong year-on-year growth of 1.7 percent, attributed partly to early end-of-financial year promotions. Despite this uptick, underlying spending remains flat in trend terms, reflecting ongoing reliance on discounts to stimulate consumer activity. The figures are pivotal as the central bank monitors economic indicators to manage inflation, with heightened market expectations of a rate increase following a hotter-than-expected inflation report for May. Focus now shifts to upcoming employment and CPI data releases ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's next meeting in August.
At 11:35am, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.11 per cent higher at 7,726.80.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 19 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Materials, up 0.97 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Utilities, down 0.94 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC), trading 3.34 per cent higher at $6.335. It is followed by shares in Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and South32 (ASX:S32).
The worst-performing large cap is EBOS Group (ASX:EBO), trading 1.73 per cent lower at $29.47. It is followed by shares in Worley (ASX:WOR) and Atlas Arteria (ASX:ALX).
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2339.20 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.5 per cent higher at US$110.55 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.23 per cent rise.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.75 US cents.
