Market Wrap: Aus shares close 2.33% lower

Market Reports

The local share market has had another horror trading day, following dismal leads from the US; tumbling 2.33 per cent at the close. Once again, the falling oil price is to blame, resulting in a sell-off in the energy space in particular. While all sectors finished the day in the red, BHP had a shocker on the market losing more than 4 per cent, South32 wasn’t far behind shedding almost 3 per cent. 
 
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 117 points lower to finish at 4,877. 
 
The value of trades was $4.9 billion on volume of 777 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), National Australia Bank Limited (ASX:NAB) and ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ)
 
On the futures market the SPI is down 124 points.
 
Economic news

Building activity for the housing sector finished on a high note for 2015, but lost momentum for the year. According to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, dwelling approvals rose by 9.2 per cent for the month of December. However for the year ended December 2015, building approvals were down 2.5 per cent. 
 
Company news

Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited (ASX:GMA) has announced that Georgette Nicholas has been appointed as CEO following the completion of an extensive global search. Ms Nicholas has been in the role of acting CEO for the past four months and has had various senior roles with Genworth Financial, Deloitte and other public accounting firms. The company has also announced that Luke Oxenham has been appointed as CFO. Shares in Genworth closed 1.18 per cent lower at $2.51. 
 
REA Group Limited (ASX:REA) has gained approval from the Federal Court of Australia regarding a scheme of arrangement through which it will acquire all of the shares in iProperty.
 
Auckland International Airport Limited’s (ASX:AIA) international passengers were the highest ever for a single month, recording almost 850,000 for December 2015.
 
Newzulu Limited (ASX:NWZ) has announced it has entered into a strategic partnership and content syndication agreement with Agencia EFE, a Spanish international news agency.
 
Best and worst performers

The sector with the least losses was REITs losing 0.7 per cent to close at 1,306. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 3.9 per cent to close at 7,019 points.
 
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Fortescue, rising 1.89 per cent to close at $1.62. Shares in Healthscope and Resmed also closed higher.
 
The worst performing stock was Liquefied Natural Gas, dropping 8.53 per cent to close at $0.59. Shares in Programmed and AWE also closed lower. 
 
Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,128 an ounce. Light crude is $1.91 lower at $US29.71 a barrel. The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7015. 
 
 
 
 

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