It was volatile day on the local markets and despite a couple of brief glimpses of positive territory the bourse gave in to the pessimism that has dominated this week and closed down 0.1 per cent.
Friday of last week investors were cheering a surge to 5,777 on the S&P200/ASX, but with a close at 5,499 today the ASX has given up 5 per cent after five days of losses.
US non-farm payroll numbers are expected tonight but the Australian market won’t get a chance to respond until Tuesday due to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Today, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 6 points down and lost 288 over the week.
The value of trades was $4.8 billion on volume of 725 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA).
On the futures market the SPI is 4 points up.
Looking at Wall Street, US major indexes have fallen over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 0.6 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has lost 0.6 per cent. The NASDAQ has lost 0.2 per cent. The 100 Index has lost 0.5 per cent.
Company news
Drug developer Novogen Limited
(ASX:NRT) have shown that its TRXE-009 formulation can cross the blood brain barrier to progress treatments for brain cancer. The Australian and US company says the blood brain barrier is a defence mechanism to keep toxins from the brain, but it also makes treatment of brain cancer very difficult. Program Manager Eleanor Ager says the formulation killed a range of cancer types in the test tube and is particularly potent against brain cancers. Shares in Novogen closed 12.24 per cent up at $0.28
Encryption hardware company Senetas Corporation Limited
(ASX:SEN) has won its first contract to develop a customised encryptor. The company says it will fit the market’s demand for high speed encryption and generate opportunities for sales in international markets. Shares in Senetas closed flat at $0.12.
Shares in Axiom Mining Limited
(ASX:AVQ) are trading lower as the hearing in the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal concludes with the court reserving judgement.
National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB) sold 28 million shares overnight in a retail shortfall book build.
Now, to the best and worst performers of the day: The best performing sector was health care adding 1 per cent to close at 18,488. The worst performing sector was financials excluding REITs, losing 0.7 per cent to close at 7,151 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Bradken Limited
(ASX:BKN), rising 5.86 per cent to close at $2.35. Shares in Virtus Health Limited
(ASX:VRT) and Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group Limited
(ASX:SCP) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Liquefied Natural Gas Limited
(ASX:LNG), dropping 3.89 per cent to close at $3.71. Shares in Sundance Energy Australia Limited
(ASX:SEA) and Senex Energy Limited
(ASX:SXY) also closed lower.
Commodities
The price of gold is trading at $US1,178 an ounce, and is down $11.41 over the week.
Light crude is $1.64 lower at $US58 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $0.77 and is $0.003 up over the week.
