Losing momentum: Aus shares close 0.71% lower

Market Reports

by Carolyn Herbert

It has been another disappointing end to the trading day for the Australian share market, dropping into the red at the open and losing all momentum throughout the session to close 0.71 per cent lower. We saw the big banks get sold off with Westpac and ANZ faring the worst losing around 1.5 per cent. There was also wide spread losses across the materials space, with mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto both plunging close to 3 per cent. The gold stocks were the shining light today with Newcrest Mining and Regis Resources both gaining over 4 per cent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 39 points down to finish at 5,436.

The value of trades was $4.8 billion on volume of 748 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO).

On the futures market the SPI is 41 points down.

Company news

Slater and Gordon Limited (ASX:SGH) has been served with legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of SGH shareholders who purchased shares in the company from 30 March 2015 to 24 February 2016. Maurice Blackburn is acting on behalf of the shareholders. Slater and Gordon says it will vigorously defend the claim. Such a case generally takes between 2 and 3 years to reach a final hearing. Shares in Slater and Gordon closed flat at $0.39.

Transurban (ASX:TCL), a company which manages toll road networks in Australia and the US, says traffic growth on its roads grew 4.9% last month.

OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL) and its joint venture partner, Cassini Resources (ASX:CZI) have launched a $3 million scoping study of the West Musgrave copper and nickel deposits in Western Australia.

Metro Mining Ltd (ASX:MMI) has signed a binding bauxite off-take agreement with Chinese aluminium company, the Xinfa Group.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Staples adding 0.5 per cent to close at 9,264. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 2 per cent to close at 8,677 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Bluescope Steel, rising 6.17 per cent to close at $7.91. Shares in Vocus Communications and Evolution Mining also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Link Administration, dropping 7.21 per cent to close at $7.59. Shares in OzForex and Credit Corp also closed lower.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,260 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.73 lower at $US50.46 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7541.




 

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