AU Evening Wrap: Australia Shares Rise 0.35%, Wrap Up Monthly Loss

The consumer discretionaries sectors rose 0.8% even as data showed March retail sales were far weaker than economists had forecast.

Moody's Analytics economist, Harry Murphy Cruise, has stated that the latest Australian retail sales data indicates that households are still not confident enough to start spending. "Inflation and high borrowing costs are dissuading would-be spenders from indulging," he noted in a statement. Despite overall inflation trending downwards, the final stretch remains challenging, which suggests that weak retail spending will persist for the coming months. The only bright spot in March's data was food retailing, with all other categories experiencing declines. The economist asserts that the figures make it clear that Australian retail sales are stagnating.

China has surpassed Japan as Australia's top coal market in April, marking the first time this has occurred in over four years. This highlights shifting market dynamics and an improved political relationship with Beijing.

According to commodity analysts Kpler, Australia exported 6.87 million metric tons of all grades of coal to China in April, up from 6.83 million in March and the highest since November. In contrast, shipments of coal to Japan from Australia were 6.10 million tons in April, down from 7.93 million in March and the lowest since April 2017.

Australia is the largest global exporter of metallurgical coal used for steel production and the second-largest exporter of thermal coal used primarily for electricity generation. Since February last year, Australia's coal exports to China have been recovering after China ended an informal ban on imports.