The Australian sharemarket opened higher but fell into negative territory before lunchtime as miners and financials weighed on the index. At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.4 per cent or 27.70 points lower at 7343.1.The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 30 points.
Across the sectors, 6 out of 11 are in the red. Financials are dragging the most, down 1.2 per cent, followed by materials, down 0.9 per cent, then communication services, down 0.8 per cent. Real estate investment trusts are lifting the highest, up 1.5 per cent, followed by utilities, up 0.6 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is property giant Goodman Group
(ASX:GMG), trading 6.3 per cent higher following an upgrade to its FY22 guidance with operating earnings per share growth of greater than 15 per cent. The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Insurance Australia Group
(ASX:IAG), trading 6.5 per cent lower following its perils update and revised FY22 guidance. Keep an eye out for a story this afternoon.
Of the major banks, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) is leading the fall, down 2.4 per cent following poor performance yesterday on its full year results. Investment banking company Macquarie Group
(ASX:MQG) is also down 1 per cent on its earnings results yesterday. QBE Insurance
(ASX:QBE) is down 3.1 per cent.
Heavyweight miners are lower, led by Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) down 1.3 per cent and Champion Iron
(ASX:CIA) down 1.3 per cent as iron ore prices are trading lower. Coal mining company Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) is also down 5.5 per cent. Amongst the losses, Redbubble
(ASX:RBL) is down 3.9 per cent and Brickworks
(ASX:BKW) fell 2.2 per cent.
In headlines this morning, Computershare
(ASX:CPU) is up 1 per cent after completing the US Wells Fargo acquisition.
IPORemsense Technologies
(ASX:REM) started trading today. Their shares issued at $0.20, started trading at $0.45 and are currently at $0.49.
Local economic news Today the Reserve Bank board is slated to meet at 2.30pm with all eyes on any commentary around inflation, bond purchases program, the jobs market and the economy. Market participants are expecting that governor Philip Lowe will announce the retirement of the yield curve control policy.
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor, Guy Debelle is also set to participate in the Impact X Sydney online summit.
Meanwhile, ANZ and Roy Morgan released the weekly consumer confidence index.Consumer Confidence increased by 1.6 points to 108.4 on the weekend and is now at its highest for nearly four months since July 10/11, 2021 (110.0). Consumer Confidence is now just above the 2021 weekly average of 108.2 and 8.5 points higher than the same week a year ago, October 31/ November 1, 2020 (99.9).
Consumer Confidence this week was up in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra as all three cities continued to re-open after months in lockdown. In contrast, Consumer Confidence fell slightly in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. This week’s increase was driven by increasing numbers of Australians saying they are ‘better off’ financially than a year ago and saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items.
Company news Australian stock transfer company Computershare (ASX: CPU) has completed the purchase of Wells Fargo Corporate Trust Services that was announced in March.
Structural changes and increased customer demand has led the property giant Goodman Group
(ASX:GMG) to up its guidance for the 2022 financial year.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Real Estate Investment Trusts, up 1.5 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Financials, down 1.2 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Goodman Group
(ASX:GMG), trading 6.3 per cent higher at $23.66. It is followed by shares in Janus Henderson Group
(ASX:JHG) and Charter Hall Group
(ASX:CHC).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Insurance Australia Group
(ASX:IAG), trading 6.5 per cent lower at $4.53. It is followed by shares in Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) and Brickworks
(ASX:BKW).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1790.46 an ounce.
Iron ore is 3.2 per cent lower at US$103.30 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 3.5 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.23 US cents.
