Turkish troubles as lira plunges: ASX closes 0.4% lower

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

The Australian share market has seen a fall today mainly due to Turkey’s impending financial crisis.The Australian dollar fell to an 18-month low against the US dollar, as the financial troubles in Turkey prompted selling. China tariffs due on the 23 August this year on US scrap metals saw Sims Metals fall. Miners performed poorly today with BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) falling over 1 per cent and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) losing 1.6 per cent. Banks also fared poorly Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) down 0.6 and Westpac (ASX:WBC) down 0.5 per cent. While iron ore price fell $1.07 to $68.71 that’s 1.5 per cent and its futures are pointing to a rise of 0.3 per cent. At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 26 points lower, or 0.4 per cent lower to finish at 6252

Futures market

Dow futures are suggesting a fall of 96 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 8 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing fall of 26 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 26 point fall tomorrow.

Value of trades

$4.7 billion on volume of 571 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 (ASX:RIO)

Company news

AuStar Gold (ASX:AUL) has successfully arranged a placement of $5.5m to fund development and further exploration at the Company’s Morning Star and Rose of Denmark gold mines (Victoria, Australia), and for future growth initiatives. The capital raising was strongly supported by Australian and United Kingdom based professional and sophisticated investors. AuStar Gold (ASX:AUL) trading flat at 1 cent

Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) plans to sell its Kmart Tyre and Auto Services Business to German automotive manufacturing company, Continental AG for $350 million. Kmart Tyre and Auto Services Business is one of Australia’s largest tyre, automotive service and repair retailers, with 258 stores and over 1200 employees.

APA Group (ASX:APA) has entered into a conditional implementation agreement with CKI Consortium to acquire 100 per cent of APA’s stapled securities at a cash price of $11 per security. The deal will not affect APA’s final distribution for the 2018 financial year, which is expected to be 24 cents per stapled security, to be paid on the 12th of September.

Capilano Honey (ASX:CZZ) has reported its net profit after tax (NPAT) dropped about 4.9 per cent on FY17 to $9.8 million for the 2018 financial year. Its revenue strengthened over the 2018 financial year, and lifted almost 4 per cent on FY17 to $139 million. Separately, the company has today announced its entered into a Scheme Implementation Agreement with HoldCo and Roc Partners to acquire 100 per cent of share capital in the company.

Best and worst performers of the day

The best performing sector was Utlitilies adding 0.6 per cent while the worst performing sector was Materials shedding 1.3 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Eclipx (ASX:ECX), rising 10.5 per cent to close at $2.10. Shares in NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) and Domain Holdings Australia (ASX:DHG) followed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Nufarm (ASX:NUF), dropping 13.1 per cent to close at $6.55. Shares in News Corp (ASX:NWS) and SIMs Metal Management (ASX:SGM) followed lower.

Asian markets

lower:Japan’s Nikkei has lost 2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.8 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,209 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.80 up at $US66.94 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.84 US cents.

Cryptocurrencies

Some of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has gained 0.6 per cent to US$6384, Ethereum has fallen 2.3 per cent to US$319 and EOS has fallen about 0.7 per cent to US$5.09, in the last 24 hours.

 

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