Australia NAB Business Conditions Rise In May

Australia's business conditions and confidence improved in May but remained deeply negative, survey data from National Australia Bank showed Tuesday.

The business conditions index gained 10 points to -24 in May after hitting the lowest level since the global financial crisis.

While improvement in conditions was broad-based across industries, conditions in services industries remained notably weaker.

The increase in conditions was driven by an improvement in trading conditions and profitability, while the employment index logged a more moderate improvement.

At the same time, the business confidence index advanced to -20 in May from -45 in April.

Business confidence increased from its low point in March, but remained weak with a current reading last seen around the trough in the 1990s recession.

With coronavirus containment measures having generally been eased, although to varying degrees across the states, there have seen some pickup in activity, the NAB said. However, uncertainty remains high both globally and domestically and businesses likely remain concerned about how quickly they will return to full capacity.