- rose 0.5% (prior 0.4%, revised to 0.3%).
AUD/USD tracking higher to 1.0308/10.
The index has improved over recent months and this is the first time since August 2011 that growth in the index rose above trend, Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans said.
However, “Westpac is a little less optimistic than the index at this stage with our expectation that growth in the second half of 2012 will be around 2.5%, slightly below trend although we do expect a better outcome in 2013 of 3.25% growth,” Evans said.-MNI
