Despite Wall Street reaching record highs last week, that sentiment has failed to rub off on the Australian share market, with the local bourse in retracement mode. The ASX200 fell into the red at the open and failed to find a driving force in afternoon trade, ending up closing the day 1.52 per cent lower. All sectors finished the day in the red, but Telcos were the best of a bad bunch.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 87 points down to finish at 5,668.
The value of trades was $5.1 billion on volume of 736 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) and ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ).
On the futures market the SPI is 87 points down.
Asian marketsTaking a look at how Asian markets are tracking in afternoon trade. The Nikkei is down 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1 per cent.
Economic newsThe Reserve Bank of Australia has once again kept interest rates on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent at its June board meeting this afternoon. It marks nine consecutive months that rates have remain stagnant, with the RBA citing varied house prices across the country as one of the reasons for keeping the cash rate unchanged.
Company newsWoodside Petroleum Limited’s
(ASX:WPL) Singapore entity Woodside Trading Energy Singapore has entered into a long term LNG sale and purchase agreement with PT Pertamina for the supply of LNG commencing in 2019. Woodside Singapore has committed to supply initial ramp up quantities building to approximately 600,000 tonnes per annum from 2022 to 2034. Pertamina is an Indonesian government owned oil and gas company, comprising upstream, midstream and downstream businesses. Shares in Woodside closed 1.13 per cent down at $31.50.
Murray Goulburn
(ASX:MGC) is undertaking a review of its strategy, corporate structure, profit sharing and capital structure, including the closure of three sites.
BT Investment Management (BTIM)
(ASX:BTT) says the allocation price for its Dividend Reinvestment Plan will be $11.21.
A Starpharma Holdings Limited
(ASX:SPL) product has significantly outperformed a major cancer drug in anti-tumour activity and increased survival in human colon cancer.
Best and worst performersThe sector with the least losses was Telcos losing 0.7 per cent to close at 1,549. The worst performing sector was Utilities, losing 3.7 per cent to close at 8,693 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG), rising 3.24 per cent to close at $4.78. Shares in Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) and St Barbara
(ASX:SBM) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Syrah Resources
(ASX:SYR), dropping 7.49 per cent to close at $2.47. Shares in Galaxy Resources
(ASX:GXY) and Sims Metal Management
(ASX:SGM) also closed lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,287 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.27 lower at $US47.39 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7491.
