Australia's business conditions continued their resilience in March though confidence remained in a negative zone amid deeper setbacks in the retail and wholesale trade segments, survey results from the National Australia Bank showed on Tuesday.
The NAB business conditions index dropped somewhat to 16 in March from 17 in February.
Nonetheless, business conditions stayed well above the long-run average.
The trading conditions remain very elevated, indicating that businesses continue to experience strong demand across all states and industries, NAB said.
At the same time, business confidence rose by 3 points to -1 in March from -4 in February.
Despite moving in the direction of stabilization, confidence is still below the long-term average. There was a broad-based lift in confidence, led by manufacturing, while mining and construction edged lower.
The growth of prices and costs slowed in March. Labor cost growth slowed after holding at very high levels in January and February, and output price growth measures also dipped.
