The Australian economy appears to be growing in a much less upbeat mode than many economists had thought as the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that corporate earnings actually retreated in the September quarter.

Coming from the record highs posted in the past quarter, fresh numbers revealed by ABS on Monday had indicated that company profits dipped by 1.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, in the September quarter to $66.9 billion.

Yet when pitted on a all-year-round basis, the September economic data, according to ABS, pointed to a 25.0 percent jump in company profits.

Still, the figures effectively detracted from the 4.0 percent improvement previously forecasted by Australian economists, giving out tell-tale signs that the local economy may not have mustered the sufficient strength that could fuel the country's anticipated level of recovery.

The ABS data also showed that business stocks sitting on store shelves and warehouses saw a decline of 0.8 percent to $145.09 billion in the same quarter as against to the 0.4 percent rise that economists were projecting for the period.

The September quarter was also anticipated to have achieved a modest rise of 0.5 percent in gross domestic product, which is in fact a decline from the 1.2 percent expansion set in the June quarter.

However, the ABS said that the new economic data signalled that the annual GDP could consolidate to an annual rate of up to 3.4 percent, which is a bit of kick up from the previous guidance of 3.3 percent for the year.

The ABS figures were published ahead of the anticipated release of Australian economic accounts on December 1 for the September quarter.