Australian business activity holds steady in September, survey shows

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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian business conditions remained steady in September as improvements in sales and profits were offset by a fall in employment, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The survey from National Australia Bank showed its index of business conditions was unchanged at +8 last month. A business confidence index inched up 3 points to +7, above the long-run average.

“The September survey showed continuing positive results in the headline figures,” said NAB Chief Economist Sally Auld.

“Both business confidence and conditions appear to be consolidating just above their long-run average levels after improving through mid-2025.”

Official data out in September showed the economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the June quarter as consumer spending finally responded to lower borrowing costs and cooling inflation.

But Australia’s central bank last month said recent data suggested inflation might be higher than forecast in the third quarter and that the economic outlook remained uncertain, and left its cash rate steady at 3.60% as expected.

The improvement in consumption looks positive with the survey’s measure of business sales up 3 points to +16 in September.

Profitability bounced 1 point to +6 and it has now lifted 11 points since May, a positive sign for labour demand over the medium term. But forward orders fell 3 points, below average and into negative territory.

Input costs rose marginally in the month but remain lower than seen at the start of the year. Quarterly growth in retail prices rose to 0.7% from 0.5%, while labour costs slowed to 1.5% from 1.6%.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney;Editing by Shri Navaratnam)