Activity in Australia's construction industry shrank for an eighth straight month in October as chaos in world financial markets hit confidence and caused delays to building projects, a survey showed on Friday.
Still, the pace of contraction slowed somewhat thank to an improvement in the commercial building sector after a notably bad month in September.
The Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association performance of construction index (PCI) inched up 4.6 points to 36.4 in October, but remained far below the 50.0 level separating expansion from contraction.
'The findings confirm the intense and on-going pressures on the construction industry from tight credit conditions, weak demand and deteriorating economic sentiment,' said Tony Pensabene, AIG (nyse: AIG - news - people ) Associate Director Economics and Research.
'Although the latest data suggests that the rate of industry contraction eased slightly in October, conditions overall remain particularly subdued.'
The report was just the latest in a string of figures showing the economy was slowing in the face of global headwinds.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was worried enough to slash its cash rate by a bigger-than-expected 75 basis points earlier this week, bringing cuts since September to 2 percentage points.
Housing was again at the centre of the storm, with its sub index dropping to a record low of just 22.9 in October, from 27.9 in September and 63.0 a year ago.
The measures for commercial property edged up to 50.4, after a dive to 35.1 in September, while engineering improved to 45.6, from 42.6.
The index of new orders remained depressed at 33.9, pointing to more weakness ahead, while employment picked up slightly to 35.2, from 30.9.
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