Australia posted a merchandise trade surplus of A$7.456 billion in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat expectations for a surplus of A$5.8 billion and was up from the upwardly revised A$5.815 billion surplus in September (originally A$5.630 billion).
Imports were up A$178 million or 1.0 percent on month to A$28.264 billion following the downwardly revised 6.5 percent slide in September (originally -6.0 percent).
Exports climbed A$1.819 billion or 5.0 percent on month to A$35.720 billion, up from the downwardly revised 2.6 percent gain in the previous month (originally up 4.0 percent).
Also on Thursday, the ABS said that the value of owner-occupied home loans issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on month in October, coming in at A$17.39 billion.
That follows the 6.0 percent jump in September.
Investment lending added 0.3 percent on month to A$5.29 billion, while overall housing loans were up 0.7 percent on month to A$22.68 billion.
On a yearly basis, overall loans rose 23.3 percent, owner-occupied loans surged 31.2 percent and investment lending added 2.8 percent.
Also, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in November, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Thursday with a seasonally adjusted PMI score of 55.1.
That’s up from 53.7 in October and it moves further above the boom-or- bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Individually, mew [business][1] growth accelerated, while job creation resumed and business confidence remained at a high level.
Input prices rose for a sixth month running, with the pace of inflation accelerating to a two-year high.
The survey also showed that the composite index improved to 54.9 in November, up from 53.5 a month earlier.
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