It has been a disappointing end to the trading week for the Australian share market, dropping like a stone at the open and remaining underwater for the rest of the session, closing the day 1.18 per cent lower. It was a sea of red across the screen in terms of sector performance, but Consumer Discretionaries was the worst performer at the end of the day. The Utilities space managed to cling on some marginal gains at the end of the session.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 68 points down to finish at 5,693.
The value of trades was $5.6 billion on volume of 765 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) and Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS)On the futures market the SPI is 74 points down.
Asian marketsTaking a look at how Asian markets are tracking in afternoon trade. The Nikkei is flat, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 1.83 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is 1.44 per cent lower.
Wall StreetLooking at Wall Street, US major indexes were lower over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.14 per cent lower. The S&P 500 Index has lost 1.58 per cent. The NASDAQ has lost 2.17 per cent. The 100 Index has lost 1.93 per cent.
Company newsHelloworld Travel Limited
(ASX:HLO) has agreed to purchase a minority shareholding in Queensland based company Cooney Investments, the operator of two award-winning Queensland based agencies. The member agencies are Helloworld Travel Mackay and Helloworld Travel Mount Pleasant. Helloworld says John Cooney and the member agencies have been members of the branded network for more than 30 years. Shares in Helloworld closed 0.94 per cent lower at $4.21.
NAB
(ASX:NAB) has announced its unaudited statutory net profit hit $1.6 billion for the June 2017 quarter.
REA Group
(ASX:REA) has announced its net profit after tax rose 12 per cent to $228.3 million for the full year ending 30 June 2017.
Baby Bunting
(ASX:BBN) has reported its statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) attributable to shareholders rose 47 per cent to $12.2 million for the financial year ending 25 June 2017.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Utilities adding 0.11 per cent to close at 8,260. The worst performing sector was Consumer Discretionaries, losing 1.97 per cent to close at 2,142 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Aconex
(ASX:ACX), rising 5.14 per cent to close at $4.50. Shares in Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST) and Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Sigma Healthcare
(ASX:SIG), dropping 8.06 per cent to close at $0.85. Shares in AAco
(ASX:AAC) and REA Group
(ASX:REA) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,285 an ounce.
Light crude is $1.05 lower at $US48.51 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7863.
