The Australian share market has finished the week on a sour note, heading for its worst month since the Global Financial Crisis. Investors embarked on a broad based sell-off of the big banks on fears of the state of the global economy, particularly China. While all sectors finished the day in negative territory, it was the gold stocks that enjoyed a bounce.
Today, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 74 points down to finish at 5,215. Over the week the index lost 142 points.
The value of trades was $8.2 billion on volume of 1.2 billion shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ), Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC)
On the futures market the SPI is down 67 points.
US markets
Looking at Wall Street, US major indexes were lower over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 2.9 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has lost 2.8 per cent. The NASDAQ has lost 3.5 per cent. The 100 Index has lost 4.1 per cent.
Company news Super Retail Group Limited
(ASX:SUL) has reported a slump in net profit to $81.1 million, a 25 per cent decrease on the previous corresponding period. The company, which is responsible for businesses including Supercheap Auto and Rebel Sport, posted an increase in revenue of 7.1 per cent to $2.24 billion. Super Retail will pay a final fully-franked dividend of 21.5 cents, bringing the total dividend to 40 cents per share. Shares in Super Retail Group closed 1.14 per cent higher at $9.77.
Duet Group
(ASX:DUE) has posted a 76 per cent decline in statutory net profit to $45 million. Net profit after tax fell 11 per cent. However the gas and electricity distributor’s revenue increased 1.4 per cent to $1.27 billion. Duet will pay a final dividend of 8.75 cents, bringing the total dividend to 17.5 cents. Shares in Duet Group closed down 2.33 per cent to $2.10.
Santos Limited
(ASX:STO) has seen its first half profit slide 82 per cent to $37 million, as well as its long-serving CEO David Knox stand down from the top job.
Medibank Private Limited
(ASX:MPL) has delivered its first annual result reporting a profit ahead of analysts’ expectations to $291 million, an adjusted increase of 12.9 per cent on 2014.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector was Staples dropping 0.3 per cent to close at 8,545. The worst performing sector was Financials excluding REITs, losing 2 per cent to close at 6,901 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Medibank Private
(ASX:MPL), rising 13.43 per cent to close at $2.28. Shares in Spark New Zealand and Sandfire Resources also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Transfield Services
(ASX:TSE), dropping 9.22 per cent to close at 98 cents. Shares in Arrium and Magellan Financial Group also closed lower.
IPOs
Glennon Small Companies Limited
(ASX:GC1) started trading today. The listed investment company floated with an issue price of $1.00, opened at $1.00 and closed at $1.00.
Commodities and Australian dollar
The price of gold is trading at $US1,162 an ounce, and is up $46.46 over the week.
Light crude gained 5 cents to $US41.32 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying 73.11 US cents and is 0.67 of a cent lower over the week.
