Home loans drop to 9 year low
Demand for new home loans fell to a nine-year low in April as rising interest rates dampen enthusiasm for housing. Finance commitments for owner-occupied housing fell 1.8 per cent in April, seasonally adjusted, to 47,669, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. Read more
Australian Stocks Slding
THE stockmarket was sharply lower by late afternoon and the weak Australian dollar remained vulnerable as investors reeled amid fears about the risks of slowdown in the global economy.
Markets in Asia were also not immune to the steep falls on Wall Street last Friday, as investors sought shelter in the yen and the US dollar as well as government bonds in countries that were considered by financial markets to have little exposure to the Europe’s widening debt crisis. Read more