The Australian share market has ended a benign day of trade in barely positive territory after shedding earlier gains across energy, mining and banking and a decline in consumer stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed up 0.03 per cent at 5,683.7 points.
A weekend of global events failed to stir the ASX on a soft day of trade, where all major sectors delivered mixed results, Citi global Markets director equities sales Karen Jorritsma said.
With relatively low turnover volumes across the ASX, Ms Jorritsma said investors were largely unmoved by Sunday's German election, ongoing US-North Korea tensions and the falling price of iron ore.
"Its just been a benign day on the stock market and sometimes that can be a good thing," Ms Jorritsma said.
The Commonwealth Bank led the market declines on Monday, following its weekend decision to cancel the unpopular $2 ATM withdrawal fees for customers of other banks - a move quickly copied by other Big Four banks.
"While the Commonwealth Bank was the first to announce the move, shareholders don't give points for cutting fees," Ms Jorritsma said.
"Banks never move in concert, but there is more selling in CBA today which could be down to a number of things, and don't forget CBA has Austrac uncertainty weighing on its price."
CBA finished down 1.1 per cent, or 81 cents, at $75.81, and NAB was flat at $31.28.
Westpac ended 0.7 per cent, or 22 cents ahead, at $31.86 and ANZ closed 0.2 per cent, or six cents, higher at $30.00.
Wesfarmers - owner of Coles supermarkets - and rival Woolworths both lost ground, with Wesfarmers dropping 0.3 per cent to $41.07 and Woolies down 0.6 per cent to $25.19 on reports of an analyst report warning the big retailers faced renewed pressure from cheaper competitors.
Among the miners BHP Billiton and Fortescue were 0.1 and 0.2 per cent higher respectively, while Rio Tinto was down 0.06 per cent, and gold miner Newcrest Mining closed up nine cents at $21.76.
Myer closed 0.7 per cent higher at 72 cents despite criticism from veteran retail investor and major shareholder Solomon Lew, who accused the struggling department store of selling clothing ranges three years out of date.
Mr Lew's Premier Investments posted its full-year results and closed down 2.6 per cent at $13.40, after strong performances in its stationery brand Smiggle and sleepwear chain Peter Alexander helped drive sales revenue for the year to June up four per cent to $1.1 billion.
The resilient Australian dollar defied its improving US counterpart and the falling price of iron ore to begin the week slightly up, trading just below the 80 US cent mark.
At 1700 AEST on Monday, the local currency was trading at 79.59 US cents, up from 79.46 on Friday.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished up 1.6 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 5,683.7 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 1.1 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 5,741.7 points
* The SPI200 futures contract was up 2 points or 0.04 per cent at 5,674 points.
* National turnover was 2.8 billion securities traded worth $4.4 billion.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 79.59 US cents, from 79.46 on Friday
* 89.335 Japanese yen, from 88.91 yen
* 66.83 euro cents, from 66.39 euro cents
* 58.77 British pence, from 58.55 pence
* 109.32 NZ cents, from 108.83 cents
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,291.86 per fine ounce, from $US1,297.67 per fine ounce on Friday.
BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 2.0461pct, from 2.0468pct
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.7438pct, from 2.7429pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* December 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 97.17 (implying a yield of 2.83pct), from 97.175 (2.825pct) on Friday
* December 2017 3-year bond futures contract at 97.81 (2.19pct) unchanged
In the U.S., Wall Street dipped on Monday, as a selloff in technology shares weighed heavily on the Nasdaq, while the most recent statement from North Korea’s to Washington added to a cautious tone.
North Korea’s foreign minister said President Donald Trump had declared war on the country and it reserved the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. bombers even if they are not in its airspace.
The White House disputed the declaration, calling the suggestion “absurd.”
The comments buoyed safe-haven assets, those that are favored by investors in times of crisis, with gold XAU= up 1 percent and the Japanese yen strengthened 0.26 percent versus the greenback at 111.71 per dollar.
“The North Korea narrative is not going away and the longer it remains part of the conversation, the more negative it becomes,” said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group, in New York.
The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, a widely followed measure of market anxiety, hit a 2-week high of 11.21 and was last up 0.63 points at 10.22.
Tech names such as Facebook (FB.O), off 4.5 percent, Microsoft (MSFT.O), down 1.55 percent, and Apple (AAPL.O), off 0.88 percent, were among the biggest drags on the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Apple shares flirted with correction territory following a report that the company had told suppliers to scale back shipments of parts for its upcoming iPhone X.
“There has been some disappointment in the reception of Apple’s latest iPhone release, and that is driving some concern and that is bleeding through to the supply-chain names,” said Kenny.
The S&P technology index .SPLRCT slid 1.42 percent, its worst daily performance in five weeks. The index remains the best performing of the 11 major S&P sectors this year, however, with a rise of nearly 23 percent.
The losses in tech were offset somewhat by a sharp climb in the energy sector, which gained 1.47 percent. The sector notched its sixteenth gain in the last 18 sessions.
Oil prices hit a more than two-year high after major producers said the global market was on its way towards rebalancing, while Turkey threatened to cut oil flows from Iraq’s Kurdistan region toward its ports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 53.84 points, or 0.24 percent, to 22,295.75, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 5.56 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,496.66 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 56.33 points, or 0.88 percent, to 6,370.59.
Genuine Parts (GPC.N) shares jumped 5.96 percent as the best performer on the S&P 500 after the car parts distributor said it would enter the European market with a deal to buy peer Alliance Automotive Group for about $2 billion.
Allergan (AGN.N) was up 3.40 percent after the drugmaker authorized a $2 billion buyback of its shares.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.28-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.26-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
About 6.42 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, above the 6.02 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup
Avo Toast and Apple Juice at the breakky table this morning.
