That's it for Markets Live for today.
Thanks for reading and for your comments.
See you all again from 9am tomorrow.
The ASX 200 bounced 1.1 per cent to 5500 points after energy stocks had their best day since 2008 following news that OPEC had reached a deal to reduce oil production, sending crude prices soaring on Wednesday night.
Brent crude continued to move higher through the session, adding another 1.1 per cent to $US52.41 a barrel.
The effect on Aussie oil and gas names was impressive: Santos climbed 12 per cent, Beach Energy jumped 11 per cent, Oil Search surged 9 per cent and Woodside - we're running out of adjectives here - bounced 6.5 per cent.
That brought the sector's gains to 7.2 per cent, the best daily performance since October 2008..
And it wasn't just oil names. Iron ore futures in China rebounded from a couple of days of heavy losses, which helped push Rio up 1.6 per cent and Fortescue a hefty 8.2 per cent. BHP, with both iron ore and oil exposure, gained 4.9 per cent.
The big four banks all climbed by between 1 per cent and 1.6 per cent, as the Trumpflation trade regained some life overnight as higher oil prices added to inflation expectations.
Bonds sold off overnight and that continued into Asian trade, with the Aussie 10-year yield (which moves in the other direction to the price) peeking above 2.8 per cent before settling at 2.78 per cent, up from 2.72 per cent at the end of Wednesday.
The Aussie dollar recovered some overnight losses and last fetched 74.1 US cents.
Higher yields hurt the "bond proxies", with the likes of Transurban, Telstra, Scentre Group and Westfield all falling. Gold miners were also hurt by an overnight fall in the precious metal. Newcrest lost 2.9 per cent.
China's central bank has circulated new rules for companies which make yuan-denominated loans to overseas entities, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, the latest in a slew of measures by Beijing to control capital outflows.
The move comes after the yuan fell to more than eight-year lows of 6.91 yuan per US dollar, fuelling attempts by firms to get their money out of the country and leading to Beijing taking aim at outbound investments and underground banks suspected of aiding capital flight.
Parties making a yuan loan to an overseas entity must first register the loan with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) - the foreign exchange regulator - and must keep the loan within a certain limit, the sources told Reuters. The limit was not specified.
While net foreign-related payments processed by Chinese banks on behalf of their clients have averaged $U24 billion a month since May, net receipts are denominated in yuan rather than US dollars, according to a research note by ANZ.
"As onshore buying of foreign currency becomes increasingly difficult, Chinese residents will be encouraged to send funds in the local currency for conversion abroad. Thus the offshore market will face stronger yuan depreciation pressure," said the research note.
The offshore yuan edged up to 6.9050 per US dollar from 6.9100 after Reuters reported the new curbs, reinforcing expectations that more capital controls are to come.
Among other measures, a lender cannot make a personal loan to an overseas borrower, and also cannot use debt financing for the purpose of an overseas loan to a foreign entity.
We've just taken another close look at the ASX chart - and hey presto the ominous spike lower we mentioned earlier has disappeared.
The ASX itself has just confirmed there was no flash crash today, so it looks like it was a mistake by Bloomberg, who are still investigating what went wrong.
What a marvellous bogeyman our AAA credit rating has become, with both sides of politics trying to use it to frighten the horses and blaming the other for the supposed problem, Michael Pascoe says:
And this is just warm-up posturing ahead of the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) on December 19.
While Malcolm Turnbull declares Bill Shorten is a threat to our AAA status, Chris Bowen lays all the blame at the government's feet while warning that a downgrade will cost every mortgage holder dearly. Maybe – or maybe not so much.
There are bigger forces at work in the world. The threat or promise of Donald Trump being a big-spending, big-borrowing, lower-taxing President, and OPEC boosting the oil price have done more to global bond markets and the cost of longer-term money than could be done by one credit ratings agency moving us down a notch from the top spot.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver thinks there's a good chance that we'll drop a level, but puts the impact in perspective: "Based on other countries that have been downgraded it's 50/50 as to whether borrowing costs would actually rise in response.
"Italy and Spain have lower ratings than Australia and yet have lower borrowing costs. And in any case if mortgage rates do rise in response to a downgrade, the RBA can always cut the official interest rate in order to bring them back down to where it wants them.
"In fact the main blow from a downgrade would be what it tells us about the deterioration in the quality of economic policy making in Australia."
Beware MYEFO myopia
Guesstimates are rolling in about whether this year’s budget deficit forecast has blown out on low wages growth or is holding on thanks to higher commodity prices. Michael Pascoe comments.
Local oil and gas producers are warning it's too early to consign tough times in the oil market to history.
Chief executives of Australian producers have given a warm welcome to the unexpected OPEC deal to cut production but hopes the agreement will bring to an end the investment drought that has afflicted the sector over the past two years remain fragile.
As some oil stocks soared to double-digit gains in reaction to the 1.2 million barrels per day output reduction agreed overnight Australian time in Vienna, chief executives were digesting the implications for the market much more soberly.
"Obviously this is seen as a positive move but I do not think it is the start of an oil price rally," said Jim McKerlie, a director of Beach Energy, warning that viewing the deal as an end to the depressed market would be "a false reading".
"This is a good step towards stability. People will at least now I think start to consider investment, but it's not a gamechanger."
Brent oil prices surged almost 10 per cent on the deal to U$S51.84, but Mr McKerlie cautioned against expectations of further gains, saying the deal should support prices around $US50.
"It is clearly positive for oil prices and for sentiment, particularly, but the million dollar question is whether it will stick," said David Biggs, head of AWE Ltd, with operations in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
"People will still be very cautious until they can see a period where the oil price has actually stayed strongly about $US50 and I think most people would be looking to see $US60 before they start undoing the purse strings, and that needs to be sustained, it's not just a few weeks."
Horizon Oil chief executive Brent Emmett voiced hopes the temporary nature of the deal would act as a deterrent for financiers of US shale projects not to dive back in to new ventures.
Mr Emmett is optimistic the cut will drive supply and demand back to balance next year.
"If you look at any forecast of supply and demand by a credible forecaster you can see supply and demand flirting with each other, coming together, after the tremendous oversupply that we've had since mid-2014," he said.
"Even to reduce production by a relatively modest amount is going to almost guarantee that balance."
Chinese commodity futures continue to swing wildly, with Dalian iron ore futures rising 2.5 per cent today after plunging as much as 8 per cent yesterday.
What's going on?
Bloomberg has a good article pointing the finger at Chinese speculators - but this time it's not necessarily retail investors following the herd but rather switched-on hedge funds, flush with cash, using algos - and probably not getting enough sleep.
For the second time this year, trading has exploded on the nation's exchanges, pushing prices of everything from zinc to coal to multi-year highs and sending authorities scrambling to deflate the bubble before it bursts.
Metals brokers described panic earlier this month as the frenzy spread to markets in London and New York, prompting wild swings in prices that show no signs of abating.
While billions of yuan have poured in from herd-like Chinese retail investors who show little regard for market fundamentals, brokers and traders say even more is coming from an expanding army of deep-pocketed hedge funds.
They're chasing better returns in commodities as stocks and real estate fade, often using algorithms and trading late into the night, when markets in London and New York are most active.
"There is no doubt that the price moves and the bigger volumes worldwide are being driven by the Chinese, and by professional speculators and financial players," said Tiger Shi, managing partner at brokerage BANDS Financial, which counts several of those funds as clients. "The western hedge funds and institutional investors don't really know what's going on. Often they were used to trading macro factors or Fed policy, but now they find they have fewer advantages."
Shi, previously head of metals in Asia at Jefferies Group and Newedge Financial, estimates that China may have more than 5000 hedge funds active in commodities. At least 10 manage assets of more than 10 billion yuan ($2 billion).
The use of algorithmic trading, in which computers execute multiple orders in milliseconds, is turbo-charging volume and volatility, according to Fu Peng, a portfolio manager at Lianzhan Global Macro Fund Management.
About a third of activity on Chinese exchanges is executed by automated commands, which generates more volume and greater momentum on global markets, Shi estimates.
A recent example was on November 11. Copper in Shanghai jumped by the most since trading began in 2004 amid a surge in volume. On the London Metal Exchange, it gained as much as 7.6 per cent, before sinking 1.7 per cent in the Asian evening. The gap between the day's high and low was more than $US500, the widest in five years, and the intensity of the swing was just as big in New York futures.
"I can recall only two other occasions in my career where there was such panic and devastating price action in copper but this market today is far less transparent," Matthew France, head of institutional sales for metals in Asia at Marex Spectron Group, said. "The machine component in the market is now so much bigger as is the onshore retail and fund involvement on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and OTC options."
Here's.. something.
Looks like we had a flash crash of sorts in the sharemarket at around 1:45pm AEST, which temporarily wiped off around $13 billion from the total market cap of the top 200 index.
We can't find a similar movement in an individual stock, so so far it's a mystery what happened.
We'll keep digging, but if anybody knows, drop us a line!
Oil is holding onto its biggest gain in nine months after OPEC approved the first supply cuts in eight years, with focus now shifting to how strictly it will implement its bid to ease a record glut.
Brent is up 0.1 per cent at $US51.89, after soaring nearly 9 per cent overnight amid record volumes.
OPEC agreed to reduce collective production to 32.5 million barrels a day, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in Vienna. Goldman Sachs said the pact means oil could rise to $US55 a barrel in the first half of next year.
Oil has whipsawed since a production-cut was first proposed in Algiers in September and investors speculated about whether an accord could be struck.
The deal, designed to drain record global oil inventories, overcame disagreements between the group's three largest producers - Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq - and ended a flirtation with free markets that started in 2014.
Bernstein said prices may rise to $US55 to $US60 a barrel in the short-term as a result of the historic accord.
"The market will no longer see a sudden plunge in oil prices," Seo Sang-young, a market strategist at Kiwoom Securities, said by phone from Seoul. "The biggest winners from the agreement are US shale producers, who will expand production as prices rally."
Another slump in business investment has opened the real possibility the economy shrank last quarter for the first time in almost six years, delivering a blow to the RBA which has been hoping a faster transition to non-mining investment led growth.
Today's capex figures show investment spending fell 4 per cent in the third quarter, when analysts had looked for a drop of only 3 per cent.
The numbers come after construction work done plunged last week and retail volumes also deteriorated - all three are components of next week's third quarter economic growth numbers. Other elements of the GDP calculations such as government spending, inventories and trade data will be released early next week.
Economists were last week predicting a rise in quarterly rise in GDP of around 0.4 per cent, but after the surprisingly weak construction numbers many revised their forecasts lower. Morgan Stanley even predicted a quarter of negative growth - which would be just the fourth contraction in the past 25 years.
Today's soft capex numbers have sparked the latest round of downward revisions, with RBC Capital Markets now expecting third-quarter growth to come in at just 0.1 per cent over the quarter (from 0.3 per cent before the data).
"Disappointing is really the only word to describe the Q3 capex survey," said RBC head of fixed income strategy Su-Lin Ong. "Some more encouraging signs in recent surveys including upward revision to plans, especially non mining, have largely stalled at some pretty low levels."
Capital Economics had previously estimated that third-quarter GDP growth was somewhere between 0 per cent and 0.5 per cent over the quarter, but is now predicting it stalled at 0 per cent, adding "a fall is clearly possible".
Nearly more worrying than the third-quarter capex figures were the predictions for the current financial year, which came in at $106.9 billion, or below analyst forecasts of $110 billion.
There were also few signs that the transition from mining investment - which is still falling after the super-cycle peaked five years ago - to non-mining is gaining pace. Planned spending of around $67 billion this financial year is roughly unchanged from last year.
"This process has been and will likely to continue to be a protracted process," said CBA economist Kristina Clifton. "In fact, we see business investment continuing to be a drag (albeit moderating over time) on GDP growth in the next couple of years."
The question remains how the RBA will react to the soft numbers.
While the board is likely to look past the third-quarter figures and may even be inclined to see a possible quarter of negative growth as a one-off following strong second-quarter GDP expansion, it makes a rate hike as predicted earlier this week by the OECD look an ever more remote chance.
"Overall, the RBA is unlikely to be too worried by these data when it meets on Tuesday (and almost certainly leaves interest rates on hold)," said Paul Dales from Capital Economics. "But it must be getting a little concerned that the economy isn't quite as strong as it thought."
Back to top
Hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson was feeling happy Wednesday morning.
After Donald Trump ridiculed Wall Street on the campaign trail, the President-elect tapped former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin to be his Treasury secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to lead the Commerce Department. Trump even met with Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn inside Trump Tower.
It would suit Tilson just fine if voters who backed Trump because he promised to rein in Wall Street are furious now that he's surrounding himself with bankers and billionaires.
"I can take glee in that -- I think Donald Trump conned them," said Tilson, who runs Kase Capital Management. "I worried that he was going to do crazy things that would blow the system up. So the fact that he's appointing people from within the system is a good thing."
When Mnuchin is sworn in as Treasury secretary, he'll be the third Goldman Sachs alumnus in three decades to get the job. As Trump switches from using Wall Street as a punching bag to a farm team, bank stocks are roaring and executives and investors are sighing with relief. They're not too worried about fury from Trump's voters.
"Some say that those who elected him may be disappointed in some way," said Scott Bok, who heads boutique investment bank Greenhill & Co. "But I think all those people want is a stronger economy. If tax cuts and infrastructure spending get them that, I think they'll be happy."
Mnuchin, 53, the son of a Goldman Sachs partner, thrived at the institutions Trump mocked during the campaign. He was tapped into the Skull and Bones secret society at Yale, joined the bank and became a top executive, ran a hedge fund and invested in Hollywood blockbusters. When he saw TV news shots of customers lined up outside a branch of California bank IndyMac trying to pull their money in 2008, he spotted an opportunity.
"I've seen this game before," he recalled saying in an interview earlier this year. "This bank is going to end up failing, and we need to figure out how to buy it."
Blood products giant CSL will begin human trials of three new therapies designed to treat rare inflammatory diseases, facial and gastro-intestinal swelling and diabetic kidney disease in Australia over the next 12 months.
The new treatments are the latest fruits of the company's $US600 million ($800 million) annual research and development spend spread across 1400 researchers in Australia, Europe and the United States.
CSL chief scientific officer Dr Andrew Cuthbertson said it was an important milestone to move one product from the early concept stage into a Phase I clinical trial (the first stage of testing new therapies on humans) in a single period let alone three.
"We are very pleased to move three projects into clinical trials over a 12 month period, all of which will be conducted in Australia," Dr Cuthbertson said.
All three "breakthrough medicines" are monoclonal (produced from identical cells) antibodies and have the potential – if the trials are successful – to provide new treatments for as yet un-met acute medical needs.
The first is CSL324, an antibody which could be used to treat rare and debilitating inflammatory diseases caused by overactive white blood cells. It works by regulating white blood cell activity in autoimmune diseases (where the immune system attacks the host instead of the invading cells) to prevent them from destroying healthy tissue.
The second is CSL312, an "anti-factor" monoclonal antibody that may be able to treat a range of diseases including Hereditary Angioedema – which can cause episodic, life-threatening attacks of swelling on the face, upper airways, stomach, digestive system and upper airways.
The third is CSL346 is an antibody that could be used to control glucose absorption in insulin-resistant patients with Type 2 diabetes – one of the fastest growing chronic diseases affecting more than 420 million people globally. It may also also be beneficial for diabetic kidney disease.
You can see CSL's briefing documents here. CSL shares are up 0.8 per cent at $98.80. Shareholders would be desperate for some good news - the stock is down 20 per cent form its July highs and in August the company issued a soft earnings report.
BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie is furious that another failure of the electricity network in South Australia because of an interconnector problem resulted in the prized Olympic Dam mine being without power for more than four hours overnight.
He said it was a "wake-up call" to politicians across Australia on the fall-out from policy failure because energy security must be urgently addressed before investment and jobs in Australia are placed in jeopardy.
"Olympic Dam's latest outage shows Australia's investability and jobs are placed in peril by the failure of policy to both reduce emissions and secure affordable, dispatchable and uninterrupted power," he said.
"This is a wake-up call ahead of the COAG meeting, and power supply and security must be top of the agenda and urgently addressed," he said.
An energy buyer for another large user whose facility did not lose power said, "It just shows the fragility of South Australia when you put all your eggs into the wind and interconnector baskets you are at the mercy of outages and constraints."
Olympic Dam, which produces copper and uranium, was unable to operate for more than two weeks after a state-wide power blackout in late September following the collapse of the electricity network which plunged the entire state into darkness. The mine, 560km north of Adelaide, only came back on line on October 13 because the transmission line it was on took the longest time to be repaired. The latest blackout overnight has infuriated BHP Billiton.
The shorter blackout overnight in South Australia, which affected up to 200,000 residents in Adelaide, was the result of the South Australian power system becoming separated from the Victorian system.
Mr Mackenzie said the broader policy situation needed to be fixed urgently.
"The challenge to reduce emissions and grow the economy cannot fall to renewables alone," Mr Mackenzie said.
The Australian Energy Market Operator said at 1.33am AEDT this morning the South Australian power system "separated from Victoria" resulting in localised outages in the state for up to an hour, together with the disconnection of the Portland smelter in Victoria.
Quick recap: shares hang onto early gains led by a blistering rally in energy stocks after OPEC's deal to cut production lifted oil prices.
Oil prices jumped more than 10 per cent to the highest in a month after the oil cartel agreed to its first output cut since 2008, aiming to reduce 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), or over 3 percent, from January.
The energy sub-index has climbed 7 per cent to a one-year high, adding nearly $5 billion in value, with all major stocks gaining. Woodside Petroleum hit an over one-year high, and was last up 6.1 per cent, while Santos touched a two-month high and was trading 12.5 per cent higher.
Gains in "commodities linked stocks today on the back of OPEC is what is driving the market higher...the rest of the market is fairly uninspiring," said Christopher Conway, head of research and trading at Australian Stock Report.
Index heavyweight BHP Billiton helped the index most with a 4.7 per cent jump to snap three sessions of losses. Rio Tinto was also among top movers.
"Company like BHP which obviously falls into the materials sector but is the biggest producer of oil in Australia, so that is the reason why you are seeing a big bump in the materials," Conway said.
Financials are extending their strong run, with the big four banks up between 0.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent. The sector got a boost from solid showing in US peers overnight.
Investors are betting US President elect Donald Trump's policies will benefit stock markets, with expectations of higher spending on infrastructure and simpler regulations in the healthcare and banking industries.
At the other end, yield-sensitive real estate stocks took a hit for a second session, after bond yields continued to spike, pushing the yield on the 10-year Australian government bond to 2.794 per cent, its highest since early January.
The local economy may be struggling but at least there's still China: activity in the country's manufacturing sector expanded more than expected in November, and at the fastest pace in more than two years, as the credit-fuelled recovery of smokestack industries helps steady the economy.
The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.7 in November, compared with the previous month's 51.2 and above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. The reading was the highest since July 2014, when it also stood at 51.7.
Analysts had predicted a reading of 51.0, pointing to a modest expansion in November as industrial firms continued to benefit from higher producer prices and a recovery in demand.
China's economy expanded at a steady 6.7 per cent in the third quarter and looks set to hit Beijing's full-year target, fuelled by stronger government spending, record bank lending and a red-hot property market that are adding to its growing pile of debt.
Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing, or services, PMI came in at 54.7, up from last month's 54.0.
The upbeat data gave both the local sharemarket as well as the Aussie dollar a small bump-up.
A few reactions on Twitter to the rather unimpressive capex numbers:
..increasing risk of flat or -ve Q3 GDP (more data to go tho)...forget talk of 2017 #RBA rate hike. We continue to expect a H1 2017 rate cut
— Shane Oliver (@ShaneOliverAMP) December 1, 2016
Aust Q3 plant & equip investment -1.9% so further downside risks on GDP (Wed). Investment plans weak as well. No good news for AUD here
— Sean Callow (@seandcallow) December 1, 2016
Miners have downgraded their capex plans for the year - back under $40b. Wld be 25% down on last year, 58% from peak in 12-13
— Shane Wright (@swrightwestoz) December 1, 2016
About that expected pickup in non-mining investment.. @ABSStats https://t.co/aCmQfbt1Ty @BusinessDay @theage @smh #auspol #ausecon pic.twitter.com/1VSFHCBpP5
— Peter Martin (@1petermartin) December 1, 2016
The important bit of the capex numbers - "other selected industries" estimates picking up, non-resources investment stirring albeit slowly pic.twitter.com/rMhdw5QSiD
— Michael Pascoe (@MichaelPascoe01) December 1, 2016
Third-quarter investment spending by companies fell 4 per cent, coming in lower than an expected 3 per cent drop.
Companies spent a total $28.03 billion, with $15.63 billion going into building structures and $12.4 billion for equipment, plants and machinery.
Forecasts for capex spending in 2016-17 were lifted slightly to $106.9 billion from last quarter's estimate of $105.6 billion, but were also below an expected $110 billion.
The Aussie dollar slipped slightly on the data, falling about one-tenth of a cent to US73.85¢.
There's always a lot of attention on the capex numbers, especially since the end of the mining boom as the RBA and economists look for signs of a revival in non-mining investment.
This time there's even more focus on the data after construction work done plunged dramatically in the last quarter and as retail volumes declined, prompting economists to lower their forecasts for third-quarter economic growth, with some even fearing negative growth over the quarter.
Today's capex numbers, which also flow into the GDP calculations, won't have made them any more optimistic about quarterly growth.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned that it will look past the rally in commodity prices when it evaluates Australia's fiscal health as the nation's prized triple-A credit rating remains at risk of a downgrade.
Australia's sovereign rating has been classified as "on watch" by S&P since July, meaning there is a one-in-three chance it will be lowered.
Heading into the government's budget update of December 19, the fiscal situation looks considerably healthier than it did at May's federal budget thanks to the remarkable recovery in the price of coal, iron ore and other commodities.
But S&P analysts are not convinced that commodity prices will stay at these levels because it is largely driven by higher demand stemming from policy in China.
Their bigger concern is that the government keeps pushing out its timing for a return to surplus.
Government's AAA battle
Credit agencies will continue to monitor the Australian economy but the Treasurer says retaining the AAA rating depends on the government's ability to reduce debt.
Energy stocks are holding onto their early strong gains, with the sub-index still up 6.4 per cent and the likes of Beach Energy soaring 10.6 per cent, Santos up 10 per cent and Oil Search rallying 9.4 per cent.
The local energy sector has some of the strongest leverage to oil prices globally given oil-linked LNG and domestic gas contracts, RBC Capital Markets says.
The table below shows the analysts' estimates of how a $US5 jump in the oil price would affect the pre-tax earnings of local energy companies.
"The leverage is high across the board but particularly so for Santos with its high leverage and lower margin operations and for the likes of FAR Limited, Karoon Gas and Beach," RBC says, adding that recent hedging arrangements mute the impact on calendar year 2017 sensitivity for some producers.
Sydney house prices remain red hot as national prices rose for an 11th straight month, while the annual pace of growth quickened noticeably, creating a headache for the RBA.
Property consultant CoreLogic said its index of home prices for the combined capital cities rose 0.2 per cent in November, a tempering from October's 0.5 per cent gain.
However, annual growth in prices accelerated to 9.3 per cent, from 7.5 per cent in October, taking it back towards last year's lofty peaks atop 11 per cent.
That will be a worry for the Reserve Bank which had been hoping the market would cool after regulators slapped banks with tighter lending rules.
After cutting interest rates to a record low of 1.5 per cent in August, the central bank has sounded reluctant to ease further in part because it could encourage more borrowing by already heavily indebted Australian households.
The RBA holds its last policy meeting of the year next week and is considered almost certain to stay on hold. Financial markets imply only a small chance of another easing next year as well.
The CoreLogic data showed home prices in Sydney kept up their blistering run with a rise of 0.8 per cent in November, from October. The annual pace of growth also spurted to 13.1 per cent, from 10.6 per cent.
Melbourne saw a rare monthly decline of 1.5 per cent in November. Yet annual growth still picked up smartly to 11.3 per cent, taking Australia's two largest cities into double-figure territory.
"Delving into the Melbourne results in more detail showed that unit values were down a larger 3.2 per cent in November, while Melbourne house values declined by 1.3 per cent over the month," said CoreLogic's head of research, Tim Lawless.
Price growth was much more mixed elsewhere, with Brisbane seeing an annual rise of 3.9 per cent and Adelaide 4.7 per cent, but Perth suffering a fall of 3.4 per cent.
The market outside the major cities was also far more subdued, with prices up just 1.4 per cent in the year to November.
Lawless noted the current national growth cycle had now run for four-and-a-half years giving a combined capital city price rise of 42.2 per cent.
Sydney boasted the biggest gain of 67.3 per cent, followed by Melbourne with 46.3 per cent.
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