Australian shares posted their worst week in three months as a sell off of commodities sent resources stocks lower.
National Australia Bank and Westpac joined CommBank and ANZ bank in lifting their standard mortgage lending rate by more than the Reserve Bank's 25 basis point move. NAB's rates will rise by 43 points on Monday, with Westpac's going up by 35 basis points the following day.
In late-afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was off 35.3 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 4693.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 31.6 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 4778.7.
At current levels, the ASX200 is off about 2.3 per cent for the week, its worst performance since the middle of August.
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Among major sectors for the day, financials were down 0.9 per cent, materials slipped 0.7 per cent, gold stocks were off 1.1 per cent, and energy stocks were off 0.3 per cent.
The dollar fell below parity overnight, as growing worries over euro-zone debt strengthened the US dollar. The Aussie was recently trading at 99 US cents.
Risk aversion
CMC Markets market analyst David Taylor said there were broad-based losses as investors retreated from commodities and risk.
Investors were worried at the prospect of China having to raise interest rates after an uncomfortably high consumer price index released yesterday.
‘‘This is causing concern over the sustainability of China’s robust growth,’’ Mr Taylor said. ‘‘In fact metals markets and equities in China fell considerably this afternoon.''
‘‘You have investors looking to take profits off the table,’ he said, adding that Australian economic data cast a shadow over the market this week when business conditions, consumer confidence and unemployment all missed the mark.
Shares in NAB closed down 90 cents, or 3.54 per cent, at $24.53, as the stock went ex-dividend. Westpac inched one cent higher to $21.94, while ANZ was down 50 cents, or 2.11 per cent, at $23.22 and Commonwealth Bank was steady at $48.55.
Big miners
Among the miners, BHP Billiton was down 29 cents at $44.30, Rio Tinto was 50 cents weaker at $86.86 and Fortescue Mining was up six cents at $6.86.
In the energy sector, Woodside was up 34 cents at $43.08, Oil Search gave up five cents to $6.52 and Santos was four cents cheaper at $13.37.
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1622 AEDT was $US1,386.50 per fine ounce, down $US21.90 from Thursday’s local close of $US1,408.40.
Newcrest was down 54 cents, or 1.25 per cent, at $42.51 while fellow gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated put on 21 cents, or 1.91 per cent, to $11.19.
Myer, Qantas
Making headlines today, Myer said sales were down 1.53 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, but expects net profit to grow by five to 10 per cent in the current financial year.
Myer inched one cent lower to $3.88.
Qantas has declined to confirm speculation that its A380s will be out of service over the summer holidays.
Qantas was down seven cents, or 2.44 per cent, at $2.80.
Printer and magazine distributor PMP Ltd said it expected double-digit earnings growth in 2010/11, supported by new contract wins.
Its shares retreated 3.5 cent, or 4.76 per cent, to 70 cents.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 100 index was Primary Health Care, which finished the session up 17 cents, or 5.57 per cent, at $3.22.
This was despite the company revising downwards its full-year earnings guidance and announcing plans to close 23 sites and cut 290 full-time positions to reduce costs in response to government funding changes.
Seek retreats
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 100 index was Seek Ltd after it warned in a conference presention of lower earnings.
Seek was down 30 cents, or 4.29 per cent, at $6.70.
The top-traded stock by volume was Acuvax Ltd, with 400.55 million shares worth $609.11 changing hands.Acuvax was steady at 0.2 cents.Preliminary national turnover was 3.06 billion shares worth $5.5 billion, with 486 stocks up, 660 down and 356 unchanged.
At 1617 AEDT, the December share price index futures contract was 34 points lower at 4,708 points, with 31,227 contracts traded.
More to come
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AAP, with BusinessDay