2019.06.1902:26:00UTC+00Australia Leading Index Falls Further

Australia's leading index dropped further in May and remained consistently negative for the past six months, data from Westpac showed on Wednesday.

The Westpac- Melbourne Institute Leading Index that indicates likely pace of economic activity over the next nine months, declined to -0.45 percent in May from -0.49 percent in April. In December 2018, the score was -0.37 percent.

The index signaled that economic growth is likely to remain below trend through the rest of 2019. Westpac expects GDP growth to remain subdued at 2.2 percent for the full calendar year.

Over the year to date period, the index growth rate logged a marginal deterioration, Westpac noted.

Worsening global conditions, especially a sharp turnaround in the contribution from the US industrial production has taken 0.57 percentage points off the headline growth rate. Falling long-term bond rates also made negative contribution.

Meanwhile, the significant offsetting positive contribution came from the ASX accelerating 13 percent over the year to date.