Australia Building Approvals, Retail Sales Falter
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Australian home-building approvals and retail sales missed economists’ forecasts in June, increasing the central bank’s scope to keep borrowing costs unchanged and triggering a drop in the local dollar.
The number of permits granted to build or renovate houses and apartments fell 3.3 percent from May, the third straight drop, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Retail sales gained 0.2 percent. The median estimates in Bloomberg News surveys were for gains of 2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.