Australian Nov Housing Finance -5.6% Vs Oct; Consensus -2.3%

Australian Nov Housing Finance -5.6% Vs Oct; Consensus -2.3%

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--The number of housing finance approvals in Australia fell a seasonally adjusted 5.6% in November from October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

Economists surveyed ahead of the announcement on average had expected a fall of 2.3% in November.

Australian housing finance approvals
===========================================
Period            Number          A$ Value
Nov 09            59,516          16.54 Bln
Oct 09            63,016          17.04 Bln
Nov 08            52,179          13.27 Bln
===========================================
(All data are seasonally adjusted.) 

The value of investment housing loans in November rose 2.1% from October.

The bureau said its trend estimate for the number of housing finance approvals, which further smoothes seasonally adjusted data, fell 1.1%.

In a breakdown of the data, the bureau said the number of finance approvals to build houses fell a seasonally adjusted 6.5% and the number of approvals to buy newly built houses fell 5.1%.

The number of approvals for the purchase of established houses decreased 5.4%.

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Japan November Current Account Surplus Y1.103 Tln; Expected Surplus Y1.029 Tln

apan November Current Account Surplus Y1.103 Tln; Expected Surplus Y1.029 Tln

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japan's current account surplus expanded 76.9% from a year earlier in November, the Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, stood at Y1.103 trillion in November before seasonal adjustment.

The result was better than a 64.96% increase in the surplus to Y1.029 trillion forecast by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei. In October, the surplus rose 42.7% to Y1.398 trillion.

Exports fell 7.0% on year to Y4.704 trillion, less than the 24.6% fall in October. Imports dropped 18.2% to Y4.214 trillion, compared to a 37.7% fall in October.

Income from overseas securities held by Japanese firms dropped 13.3% on year to Y732.8 billion as interest rates around the world remained lower than in the same month last year.

The current account measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment. It is calculated by determining the difference between Japan's income from foreign sources against payments on foreign obligations and excludes net capital investment.

Web site:
http://www.mof.go.jp/bpoffice/e1c004.htm

-By Andrew Monahan, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2774; andrew.monahan@dowjones.com

Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=afTsE3CHnyz8k7x0DZju%2Fw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

UK posts better-than-expected trade balance and housing price figures

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – The UK's economy received some good news as the trade balance for the month of November fell beyond market forecasts and housing prices grew for the first time since April of 2008.

The UK's good trade deficit fell to £6.8B in November compared to the revised £7.0B for October. Analysts had predicted a more modest decline of £6.9B.

The total trade deficit followed suit, dropping to £2.9B in November from £3.2B in October and once again slightly bettering the expectations of £3.0B.

Housing prices grew by 0.6% last November, making it the first month of positive price growth since the spring of 2008. This result marks the eighth straight month of improvement in the health of the housing market, up from -2.2% in October and ahead of forecasts of 0.3% growth.

• GBP/USD

GBP/USD (Jan 13 at 05:32 GMT)

1.6186/88 (0.16%)

H 1.61928 L 1.6133

S3	S2	S1	R1	R2	R3
1.6094	1.6134	1.6175	1.6189	1.6229	1.6270

[?]Trend Index	[?]OB/OS Index
Slightly Bullish	Neutral
Data updated on Jan 13 at 04:53 (15-minute timeframe)

Germany's VDMA: Nov New Orders -12% On Year Vs -29% In October

Germany's VDMA: Nov New Orders -12% On Year Vs -29% In October

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--The decline in incoming orders to Germany's engineering sector, the backbone of Europe's largest economy, slowed sharply in November, according to data released Tuesday by the VDMA industry association.

The VDMA said new orders in November were down only 12% from a year earlier, compared with a 29% drop year-on-year in October.

Domestic orders were down 8% from a year earlier, while export orders were down 12%.

"November's order inflows confirm again our assessment, that the sharp decline in machinery orders has come to an end," the VDMA's chief economist Ralph Wiechers said in a statement.

Wiechers noted that several sectors were now posting increases in order inflow in year-on-year terms, due in part to a very weak base month in November 2008, when the financial panic that followed the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Inc. shattered business confidence and, consequently, big-ticket capital spending on new machinery.

On a rolling three-month basis, which smoothes out some of the volatility of the monthly data, new orders in the period September to November were down 25% from a year earlier, compared with a decline of 35% in the three months through October.

Web site: www.vdma.org

-By Geoffrey T. Smith, Dow Jones Newswires (+49 69) 29725-520; geoffrey.smith@dowjones.com

Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=HJGtRTNZvrBiUm5%2FSQTdUg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

US trade deficit higher than forecast

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – The US trade deficit widened to $36.40B in November, up from October's revised figure of $33.19B.

This extension of the US trade gap was greater than market expectations which had foreseen a smaller increase in the range of $34.9B.

The US Census Bureau reported that exports of goods and services totaled $138.2B, while imports for goods and services were $174.6B for November.

• EUR/USD

EUR/USD (Jan 13 at 05:31 GMT)

1.4489/92 (0.03%)

H 1.4495 L 1.4454

S3	S2	S1	R1	R2	R3
1.4409	1.4445	1.4481	1.4491	1.4527	1.4563

[?]Trend Index	[?]OB/OS Index
Strongly Bullish	Neutral
Data updated on Jan 13 at 04:53 (15-minute timeframe)

RBA sells A$313 Mln in November

Australia's central bank sold 313 million AUD dollars net on the spot FX market in November, the lastest RBA bulletin showed. Not much when compareed to other months, AUDUSD slightly higher, above 90c.

BoE leaves Bank Rate on hold at 0.5%; QE unchanged

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The Bank of England has announced its decision to maintain its Bank rate at 0.5% all-time low, and its Bonds Purchase Plan unchanged at GBP 200 billion, as widely expected.

The Boe will keep its benchmark record at 0.5%, the lowest level on record for the 11th month in a row, while the budget for its quantitative easing program will remain at GBP 200 billion. As usual, the Bank has not given any further detail of the meeting, whose minutes are due to be released on January 20.

The Pound has remained little moved, with GBP/USD right above 1.5910 support, after retreating from 1.6060 high on early Asian session, while GBP/JPY edged up from 148.00 to 1.4825 resistance level, which is being tested at the moment, and the EUR/GBP remains trading between 0.8990 and 0.9025.

• EUR/GBP
• GBP/USD
• GBP/JPY

EUR/GBP (Jan 13 at 05:28 GMT)

0.8948/50 (-0.16%)

H 0.8972 L 0.8943

S3	S2	S1	R1	R2	R3
0.8902	0.8924	0.8946	0.8952	0.8974	0.8996

[?]Trend Index	[?]OB/OS Index
Slightly Bearish	Neutral
Data updated on Jan 13 at 04:53 (15-minute timeframe)