Aust shares drop, snapping three-week winning steak
Derek Rose |
The local share market has finished modestly lower, snapping its streak of three weekly wins.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday finished down 31.8 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 7,330.4, while the broader All Ordinaries ended 32.4 points lower, or 0.43 per cent, to 7,523.
Friday’s move was the biggest for the ASX200 all week, finishing 0.42 per cent lower for the week, its first weekly losses since week of March 20-24.
“It’s really been quiet,” Tribeca Investment Partners portfolio manager Jun Bei Liu told AAP, who blamed school holidays in part on the light volume.
Ms Liu said profit-taking had also hit the mining sector and the big banks ahead of next week’s holiday-shortened trading week.
The mining sector was again the worst laggard for a second day, falling 1.5 per cent as both BHP and Rio Tinto released quarterly production updates.
BHP fell 2.3 per cent to $45.02, Rio Tinto dropped 2.8 per cent to $117 and Fortescue Metals retreated 4.2 per cent to $21.49 in FMG’s worst daily losses since late February.
Building materials companies were higher however, which Ms Liu attributed to the biggest US home builder, D.R. Horton, overnight reporting better-than-expected quarterly results and upgrading its forecasts for the full year.
Boral jumped 5.6 per cent to $4.13, Adbri added 1.5 per cent to $1.68, Brickworks climbed 1.3 per cent to $24.51 and CSR gained 1.2 per cent to $5.27.
In the heavyweight banking sector, Westpac fell 1.2 per cent to $22.29, ANZ dipped 0.5 per cent to $24.33, while CBA and NAB both subtracted 1.1 per cent to $99.80 and $22.29 respectively.
Also, Bank of Queensland dropped five per cent and Bendigo and Adelaide fell 2.2 per cent, while Virgin Money UK dropped 2.4 per cent.
Whitehaven Coal was the biggest gainer among big companies, rising 5.9 per cent to $7.38 after announcing it had $2.7 billion in the bank as of March 31 after making $1.2 billion in coal sales during the quarter, and was preparing to resume its share buyback program next week.
Woodside was flat at $33.69 as the energy giant reaffirmed its full-year production guidance despite announcing that its March quarter production was down nine per cent quarter-on-quarter due to planned turnaround and maintenance activities.
In currency, the Australian dollar had dipped to a five-day low against the greenback, buying 66.92 US cents, from 67.03 US cents at Thursday’s ASX close.
Cryptocurrencies were also mostly in the red after a strong run in recent weeks, with Bitcoin falling under $A42,000 for the first time in a week and a half.
Looking forward, next week the market will be closed on Tuesday for Anzac Day.
Then on Wednesday the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release Consumer Price Index data for the March quarter, which will be closely watched as a key indicator for whether the Reserve Bank will resume raising interest rates at its next meeting on May 2.
Ms Liu said the market may also be looking ahead to the Macquarie conference the following week.
“This conference for many years used to be known as a downgrade conference, because retailers give updates in May about what trading is looking like – and we do expect them to post weaker numbers, because consumer spending is really slowing down.”
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Friday down 31.8 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 7,330.4.
* The broader All Ordinaries dropped 32.4 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 7,523.0.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 66.92 US cents, from 67.03 US cents at Thursday’s ASX close
* 89.62 Japanese yen, from 90.41 Japanese yen
* 61.14 Euro cents, from 61.32 Euro cents
* 53.97 British pence, from 54.03 British pence
* 109.04 NZ cents, from 108.91 NZ cents.
AAP
