Shares ease as investors turn jittery

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 13 years ago

Shares ease as investors turn jittery

Close The Australian stockmarket was lower today, as a slew of upcoming offshore events led to renewed caution among investors, but Macquarie Group bucked the trend after posting a better than expected first-half result.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index was down 23.3 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 4661.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries Index fell 19.3 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4733.5.

For the week, the ASX200 eked out a 0.3 per cent increase. October was another winning month - the third in the past four - with the benchmark index up 1.7 per cent. September's gain was 4.1 per cent.

Despite strong gains in Macquarie shares on Friday, financials lost 0.4 per cent, shedding some of the previous sessions' gains. Materials slipped 0.2 per cent, energy shares fell 0.9 per cent, while gold stocks rose 1.4 per cent.

need2know:
- The dollar treads water around 97.5 US cents
- Asian shares drop for second weekly decline
- Oil falls below $US82 a barrel
- Gold slips to $US1139 an ounce
- Dow futures shed 37 points to 11,012

    "Today saw the market slip away with investors feeling jittery ahead of another big week," said CMC Markets analyst David Taylor.

    "The market is looking at a quantitative easing announcement by the FOMC on November 3, and there are also mid-term elections in the US."

    Macquarie beats forecasts

    Advertisement

    Among blue chips, the best performer was Macquarie Group, climbing $1.65, or 4.8 per cent, to $36.20, posting its best gain in eight weeks after the investment bank’s half-year profit beat market expectations.

    The banks finished mixed.Westpac - which reports its results on Wednesday - dropped 25 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $22.70, Commonwealth Bank was 42 cents lower at $48.90, National Australia Bank was up 12 cents at $25.46 and ANZ was up 8 cents at $24.81.

    This week saw some more clarity on the Australian banking sector, Mr Taylor said.

    "It seems our banks are holding up well – especially the National Australia Bank and the ANZ," he said. "Both saw increased net interest margins, higher dividends, growing cash profits and more confident outlook statements.

    The miners closed mostly lower. BHP Billiton was down 7 cents at $41.92 and Rio Tinto was $1.10 lower at $82.69. Fortescue Metals was eight cents higher at $6.25.

    Mr Taylor said the miners experienced profit-taking.

    ‘‘Last night the US dollar didn’t move much and the commodities have stalled as a result,’’ he said. ‘‘(So) investors are taking time to clean up and get their cash off the table.’’

    Whitehaven opens doors to bidders

    In market news, Whitehaven Coal said it will formalise a bidding process because of ongoing interest being shown in the listed company. Whitehaven was the second best performer on the S&P/ASX 200, with shares soaring 57 cents, or 8.9 per cent, to close at $6.96.

    Bourse operator ASX Ltd lost another 2.0 per cent on concern that an $8.4 billion takeover bid from the Singapore Exchange would be blocked by politicians, while Origin Energy fell 1.9 per cent after reaffirming
    guidance.

    Qantas Airways ended down 4 cents at $2.84 after saying the Asia-Pacific offers the biggest opportunity in 2010/11, while the domestic market is recovering and overseas remains ‘‘patchy’’.

    The other airline companies were mixed. Virgin Blue Holdings finished down 0.5 cent at 43 cents, Air New Zealand was steady at $1.02, and Regional Express was steady at $1.23.

    Gunns slumps on profit warning

    Woodchipper Gunns dropped 5.5 cents, or 7.5 per cent, to 67.5 cents after it revised its full year earnings guidance downwards, blaming the strong Australian dollar’s effect on export revenue and the new Tasmanian forest agreement for the decline.

    Woodside Petroleum closed down 63 cents at $43.50. The oil and gas producer entered into an agreement to take full ownership of an exploration permit in the Carnarvon Basin offshore from Western Australian.

    Hills Industries finished down 3 cents at $2.16 after it confirmed its guidance for 2010/11, but warned that net profit would be around ten per cent lower in the first half than the prior corresponding period.

    The top-traded stock by volume was Monitor Energy, with 118.56 million shares worth $474,234 changing hands. Monitor was steady at 0.4 cent.

    Loading

    Preliminary market turnover was 2.90 billion shares worth $8.51 billion, with 539 stocks up, 620 down and 357 unchanged.

    AAP, with BusinessDay

    Most Viewed in Business

    Loading