Financial News: Australia Westpac Leading Index Improves

Australia Westpac Leading Index Improves

09/16/2026 - 03:10:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - Australia's leading index suggested that momentum continued to improve in August and remained slightly below trend heading into late 2026, Westpac said Wednesday.

The six-month annualized growth rate in the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity relative to trend three to nine months into the future, lifted to -0.09 percent in August from -0.17 percent in July.

Data showed that momentum remained soft in August but improved since mid-year.

"Growth appears to be stabilising at a slow pace rather than stalling with households resilient and notable support coming from a strong ramp-up in data centre investment," Westpac's Head of Australian Macro-forecasting, Matthew Hassan said.

Although a further rise in interest rates will take some of the gloss off near term, Westpac expects annual economic growth to slow 1.5 percent by year-end.

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