10.12.201902:18:00UTC+00Australia NAB Business Confidence Weakens In November

Australia's business confidence declined in November, unwinding the increase seen in previous month, while business conditions remained unchanged, survey data from National Australia Bank showed Tuesday.

The business confidence index dropped two points to zero in November suggesting that on average firms see no change in business conditions going forward.

Forward-looking indicators weakened largely offsetting their improvement over recent months. The forward orders indicator fell to 2 points, while capacity utilization and capex edged lower.

Meanwhile, the business conditions index was unchanged at +4 points.

The employment index held steady at +4 points, while trading conditions edged down one point to +6. Profitability gained three points to +3 points.

The survey showed that the divergence between the goods related industries, the weakest sector and the services sector, which was the strongest, widened in November.

At the same time, the construction and manufacturing sectors stabilized after previous big falls. Mining also showed a significant pull-back on lower commodity prices.

The NAB said the business survey is consistent with ongoing weakness in GDP growth and suggests there has been little improvement in the fourth quarter for GDP.