Following weak leads from Wall Street, the Australian stocks plunged sharply at the start of trade, and are currently tracking 1.65 per cent lower at noon. Investors are heavily selling off their financial stocks, particularly the big four banks, with ANZ leading the losses. BHP shares also fell sharply due to a fall in oil prices overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 88 points down at 5,225. On the futures market the SPI is 33 points lower.
Company newsBellamy’s Australia Ltd
(ASX:BAL) has made two new appointments to its senior leadership team. Andrew Cohen is the company’s new Chief Operations & Strategy Officer, and Katherine Henry has been appointed Executive Director, People and Culture. Shares in Bellamy’s are trading down 1.97 per cent at $10.44.
Qantas Airways Ltd
(ASX:QAN) has completed a $500 million on market share buy-back. Since 9 March 2016, Qantas her purchased around 143,600 shares for a weighted price of $3.48. The number of ordinary shares on issue for Qantas has decreased by 12.6% since 30 June 2015. Shares in Qantas are trading down 3.5 per cent at $2.90.
Best and worst performersNone of the sectors are performing well. However, the best performer is Utilities, losing 0.45 per cent to 7,301. Shares in Duet Group have risen 0.64 per cent and trading at $2.38. Shares in AusNet Services were higher, while shares in Spark Infrastructure were flat.
The worst performing sector is Energy, falling 3.4 per cent to 8,141. Shares in Whitehaven Coal have fallen 6.43 per cent, trading at $0.98. Shares in Santos and Liquefied Natural Gas are also lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,283 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7393.
