After a weak start and a subsequent rebound into positive territory, the Australian market faltered on Monday and is currently trading marginally down. Though Wall Street ended modestly higher on Friday thanks to some encouraging economic data, the mood in the Australian market is somewhat cautious with a slightly negative bias.
Consumer staples, energy, healthcare, industrial and information technology stocks are edging higher, while financial, mining and property trusts stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which advanced to 4,373.3 after an early fall to 4,344.2, is currently down 6.3 points at 4,363.8. The broader All Ordinaries index is at 4,393.4, down 0.4 points from the unchanged line.
ANZ Bank (ANZ) is trading slightly down. ANZ has posted a profit of A$4.4 billion for the nine months to June, an increase of 10 percent from the prior corresponding period.
National Australia Bank and Westpac are trading higher by 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia, trading ex-dividend, is down more than 4 percent.
Bank of Queensland is down marginally, while Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is trading 0.8 percent down following a sharp 43 percent drop in full-year profits.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton (BHP, BBL) is up 0.6 percent, Rio Tinto (RIO, RIO.L) is trading lower by 1 percent, Newcrest Mining is down marginally and Fortescue Metals is losing nearly a percent.
In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum, Santos and Origin Energy are up 0.8 to 1.5 percent, while Caltex Australia and Oil Search are trading weak.
Lynas Corp. is down more than 7 percent. Telstra Corp. is trading lower by about 5 percent and Whitehaven Coal is losing 3.3 percent.
UGL, Iluka Resources, JB Hi-Fi and Arrium are also trading notably lower.
Alumina, Transurban Group, Monadelphous Group, Spark Infrastructure, Campbell Brothers, Cochlear, Primary Healthcare, ResMed Inc, Perseus Mining, Sims Metal Management, Boart Longyear and QR National are all trading higher by 1.5 to 3.3 percent.
On Wall Street, stocks posted modest gains after a choppy session on Friday. Better-than-expected economic news aided sentiment to an extent and triggered some buying interest.
The Dow ended up 25.1 points or 0.2 percent at 13,275.2, the Nasdaq rose 14.2 points or 0.5 percent to 3,076.6 and the S&P 500 closed up 2.7 points or 0.2 percent at 1,418.2.
Major European markets too ended higher on Friday. While the Germany's DAX 100 index climbed 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index moved up by 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil ended higher on Friday after early weakness. Light sweet crude oil futures for September delivery gained $0.41 or 0.4 percent to close at $96.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
by RTT Staff Writer
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