Friday falls: Aus shares close 0.7% lower

It seems the Australian share market has completely ran out of puff towards the end of the week, with the local bourse finishing in the red or 0.7 per cent lower. Most sectors finished the day in negative territory with Consumer Discretionaries dragging the index down, with losses of more than 3 per cent in Myer (ASX:MYR) and Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL). We also saw continued selling in Industrials and the Health Care space. Materials was the only space to finish above water, but eroded its earlier gains and closed the session practically flat.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 41 points down to finish at 5,837.

The value of trades was $5.2 billion on volume of 770 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were National Australia Bank Limited (ASX:NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) and ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ).

On the futures market the SPI is 49 points down.

Asian markets

Taking a look at how Asian markets are tracking in afternoon trade. The Nikkei is 0.46 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.2 per cent higher and the Shanghai Composite is 0.85 per cent higher. 

Wall Street

Looking at Wall Street, US major indexes were mixed over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 0.42 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has lost 0.2 per cent. The NASDAQ has added 0.25per cent. The 100 Index has added 0.5 per cent.

Company news

Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM) has provided an update on remediation and ground support upgrades at Cadia, following a Prohibition Notice enforced by the NSW regulator. Currently the prohibition notice prohibits the extraction of ore in PC1 and PC2. Newcrest says subject to the lifting of the notice, gold production in FY18 is between 650 and 750 thousand ounces. Shares in Newcrest Mining closed 2.38 per cent up at $20.68.

Tatts Group Limited (ASX:TTS) has expanded its decade long relationship with internet lottery business, Jumbo Interactive Limited (ASX:JIN).

Drone manufacture Department 13 (ASX:D13) has successfully raised $5.5 million before costs, in a share placement to new and existing shareholders.

PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) has announced it has progressed its specialised skin cell research project, which produces insulin under the skin for people with type I diabetes.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Materials adding 0.02 per cent to close at 9,636. The worst performing sector was Consumer Discretionaries, losing 2.11 per cent to close at 2,206 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Alumina (ASX:AWC), rising 4.8 per cent to close at $1.85. Shares in Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) and Aveo Group (ASX:AOG) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR), dropping 7.19 per cent to close at $2.71. Shares in Bapcor (ASX:BAP) and A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) also closed lower.

IPOs

Benjamin Hornigold Limited (ASX:BHD) started trading today. The investment company listed with an issue price of $1.00, opened at $1.03 and closed at $1.045.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,227 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.41 up at $US48.19 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7383.