The Aussie market sank today as miners, retailers and the banks were sold off in broad based losses. U.S. markets lost ground overnight as some economic news reignited concerns about the pace of economic recovery and weighed on gold and oil prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 72 points lower at 4,702 and was 130 points higher than a week ago while on the futures market, the SPI200’s down 82.
Looking to the U.S. and on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial index rose 56 points on the four trading days so far this week. The S&P500 Index gained 8, the NASDAQ added 35 points and the 100 index advanced 17 points.
To company news around this afternoon: Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) announced it was raising its variable mortgage rates by 37 basis points. Then ANZ (ASX:ANZ) became the last of the big four banks and increased its rate by 35 basis points. Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ have all raised their rates by less than Westpac’s 47 basis point lift. Commonwealth shares finished the day 0.28% lower at $53.96 and ANZ shares declined 0.99% to $21.98.
Skilled Group (ASX:SKE) said it will be unlikely to meet analysts’ expectations for $88 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the current financial year. The company blamed its corporate strategy which includes rebuilding its business in order to see strong results in the 2011 financial year. Skilled Group shares dropped 16.44% to $1.855 today on the news.
Also making news: A report from Barclays Capital in London said that Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) may renegotiate its proposed iron-ore mining venture with BHP Billiton to try to agree on more favorable terms. The report said that the planned $5.8 billion payment by BHP to Rio to make each company’s contribution to the joint venture fair, is too low. Shares in both miners lost ground today.
Phosphate explorer Dragon Energy (ASX:DLE) shares surged as it said it had acquired three iron ore projects in the Pilbara and midwest regions from Polaris Metals (ASX:POL).
In the best and worst performers: All the sectors were in the red but the best performing sector today was the Utilities index, which was down 37 points to 4,177. The worst performing by percentage points was the Consumer Discretionary index; which lost 40 points to 1,580.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Paperlinx and shares gained 4.08% to $0.51. Shares in iSoft and Sundance Resources also improved.
The worst performing stock was Molopo Energy and shares lost 6.58% to $1.42. Mincor Resources and Austar United shares also closed lower today.
The Aussie dollar is currently buying 92.28 U.S cents and is up over a cent on the week. Gold is trading at $1,204 U.S an ounce and is up $27.30 on the week.
Oil is down $0.48 at $75.98 U.S a barrel.
