Australia June Trade Surplus 5.365B AUD; UK House Prices Up 0.4%; Japan Spending, Trade, Lending Mixed; Netherlands Sales Rise

Australia reported a trade surplus of 5.365 billion AUD in June 2025, surpassing the forecast of 3 billion AUD and the previous surplus of 2.238 billion AUD. This improvement was supported by a 6.0% month-on-month increase in exports and a 3.1% decline in imports. In the UK, Halifax data showed that house prices rose by 0.4% month-on-month in July, slightly above the estimated 0.3%, while the year-on-year increase slowed marginally to 2.4% from 2.5%. This marked the largest monthly rise in six months. Japan's household spending in June increased by 1.3% year-on-year, below the forecast of 2.7% and down from 4.7% previously, while month-on-month spending fell by 5.2%. Japan's June trade surplus was 469.6 billion yen, exceeding the estimate of 402.1 billion yen, though the current account surplus stood at 1.348 trillion yen, below the forecast of 1.806 trillion yen and the previous 3.436 trillion yen. The adjusted current account surplus was 2.398 trillion yen, also below expectations. Bank lending in Japan in July rose by 3.2% year-on-year including trusts and 3.5% excluding trusts, both increases from prior figures. In the Netherlands, June industrial sales rose by 1.8% year-on-year, consumer spending increased by 0.7%, while manufacturing production declined by 0.2% year-on-year.