Australia’s economic growth sluggish

The Australian economy “probably grew around 2.3 per cent” throughout 2016, according to the company, compared with the decade average of 2.7 per cent.

Additionally, wage growth in the year to September was only 1.9 per cent, which Commsec said was an 18-year low.

“The annual inflation rate stands at 1.3 per cent, but once volatile factors are removed, underlying inflation is around 1.6 per cent,” the company added.

The Australian share market however saw noticeable gains through the year, with both the ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries rising 7 per cent each, and total returns on Australian shares (price plus dividends) growing 11.6 per cent.

This followed growth of 3.8 per cent in 2015, CommSec said. 

The Capital Goods sector performed the best throughout the year, up 39.4 per cent according to CommSec, with Telecom experiencing the worst performance by sector, down 12 per cent.

[Related: Economy ‘weak but benign’ says CEO]