Morning Briefing: Record profit tipped for CBA

A major bank is expected to report record first-half profits... Volumes down, but solid week for auction results...

Record profit tipped for CBA
Commonwealth Bank is expected to report record first-half profits, according to an article in The Australian. 

CBA analysts expect a three per cent increase in first-half profit, with spotlight on dividend policy.

The bank will be the first of the big four banks to report since they hiked their mortgage rates in 2015.

Analyst consensus is for a cash profit of about $4.77 billion for the six months to December 31, up about three per cent on $4.62 billion for the prior corresponding period.

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Volumes down, but solid week for auction results
Last week was a solid one for the Australian auction market, with the preliminary national clearance rate sitting at 70.1%, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

That figure is currently higher than the 67.3% recorded during the corresponding week one year ago; however, there was a much lower number of auctions held last week compared to 12 months prior.

In Melbourne, 206 auction results have been reported, with the clearance rate currently sitting at 80.1%, higher than the previous week’s 69.9% from 151 auctions.

One year ago, Melbourne’s auction clearance rate was 60.7% across 255 auctions.

Last week, the inner east was Melbourne’s best performing sub-region, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 93.8%.

In Sydney, last week saw 265 homes go under the hammer, with the city’s preliminary clearance rate at 70.2%, which is down from the 80.6% from 421 auctions 12 months ago.

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