Australia's Trade Surplus Narrows in July

Australia posted a seasonally adjusted trade surplus of A$460 million in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

The figure, which was lower than analysts' expectations of a surplus of A$1 billion, came despite small increases in iron ore and coal exports. The June surplus totaled A$888 million.

The value of exports fell by 2.0%, while the value of imports fell by 1.0% in July from June, the data showed.

Strong iron ore prices and rising exports of natural gas have helped to lift Australia's trade balance back into surplus this year.

A resilient Chinese economy has also underpinned the improvement, although an elevated Australian dollar could start to erode some of the gains.

The Reserve Bank of Australia warned this week that a higher Australian dollar would slow the economy, posing headwinds to employment growth and an improving inflation trajectory.

-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 06, 2017 21:48 ET (01:48 GMT)