The Australian share market continued its downward trend. At the closing bell, the ASX was 0.6 per cent or 46 points lower at 7,583.
Energy and Financial stocks continued their losses while miners fell in the afternoon trade.
Major Energy supplier Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) closed 4.3 per cent lower, Santos
(ASX:STO) closed 2.8 per cent lower and Oil Search
(ASX:OSH) closed 3 per cent lower, following a decline in oil prices.
Mining giant BHP
(ASX:BHP) closed 1.2 per cent lower, Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) closed 1.4 per cent lower and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) closed 1.5 per cent lower.
BHP confirmed this morning that it is in talks to merge its $20 billion petroleum business with Woodside Petroleum in what would be another staggering deal for the market.
Onto Banks, NAB
(ASX:NAB) recovered from some of its early losses, closing 0.4 per cent higher. Meanwhile, Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA) closed 1.4 per cent lower, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) closed 1.3 per cent lower and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) closed 2.5 per cent lower.
In headlines, Beach Energy, Bendigo Bank and Lendlease experienced heavy losses after reporting their FY21 results. Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) closed 9.9 per cent lower, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
(ASX:BEN) closed 9.5 per cent lower and Lendlease Group
(ASX:LLC) closed 7.3 per cent lower.
NSW recorded 478 new Covid-19 cases, Victoria recorded 22 new cases and Queensland recorded 0 new cases overnight.
Company news Please join us for Stocks of the Hour
here. Carsales
(ASX:CAR) demonstrated continued momentum in their domestic and international portfolio for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21).
Australian steel producer Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL), reports a record performance in underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $1.72 billion.
Home entertainment retailer JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH) reported total sales of $8.9 billion for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21).
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
(ASX:BEN) reports a statutory net profit of $524 million for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21), up 172 per cent from the prior year.
Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) has announced an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $363 million for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21), down 21 per cent from the prior year
Argo Investments
(ASX:ARG) announced a profit of $174 million for the period ending 30 Jun 2021, compared to 199.5 million in FY20.
Lendlease
(ASX:LLC) records operating profit after tax of $377 million for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21), up 83 per cent from the prior year
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 107 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 11 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 22 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 39 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was Consumer Staples, up 1.1 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Energy, down 3.4 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was The A2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M), closing 12.1 per cent higher at $6.68. It was followed by shares in Carsales.Com
(ASX:CAR) and GPT Group
(ASX:GPT).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT), closing 9.9 per cent lower at $1.09. It was followed by shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
(ASX:BEN) and Lendlease Group
(ASX:LLC).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has lost 1.7 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.97 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1773.36 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.5 per cent lower at US$162.07 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 2.9 per cent.
Light crude is trading $1.14 lower at US$67.07 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.37 US cents.
