AFIC takes positive view on economy
AUSTRALIA'S biggest mining companies - which have underwritten the country's economic growth since the financial crisis - are likely to start pulling back on once-optimistic plans for investment, according to one of the biggest investors in the resource industry.
But Australian Foundation Investment Company, which has former BHP Billiton chairman Don Argus on its board, stopped short of declaring the mining boom over, insisting that China would support commodity prices for years.
The comments follow a rethink by economists on the outlook for Australia's mining investment boom.
BIS Shrapnel will today release its latest set of long-term forecasts, saying the mining investment boom will soon end, but that Australian economic growth will not stall.
Concerns about the global outlook weighed on the sharemarket yesterday, as stocks suffered their worst day since June 4, with $21 billion wiped from the market's value on fears of slowing Chinese growth and a blowout in Spanish debt.
Read more at Brisbanetimes.com.au
