A shortened trading day - market closes at @2;10pm. Bound to be quiet so we're just going with the one thread today. Probs be doing the same thing until after New Year with @Oscar09 and @highlandlad both taking breaks as well. Everyone happy with that?
The Australian share market has plunged to a new two-year low, dragged down by energy stocks, while insurers have been pelted with millions of dollars in claims following Sydney's hailstorm.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 38.2 points, or 0.69 per cent to 5467.6 on Friday.
The broader All Ordinaries lost 0.71 per cent following another bleak session on Wall Street after President Donald Trump refused to sign a bill to fund the government, setting up a last minute showdown with Democrats in the senate to avoid a partial shutdown.
On the last major day of trading for the year, CMC Markets chief strategist Michael McCarthy said it was important to note the "market wobble" was related to growth outlook and not the Australian or global economies.
"We're having a re-pricing of US shares, which is reasonable given they got into such lofty valuations but unfortunately that negative momentum is starting to become a market force in itself," he told AAP.
"It's pretty clear the negative action is now starting to rattle investor nerves as well as any other headlines that might cause concern."
The big four Australian lenders all lost ground, with NAB and ANZ suffering the heaviest losses, both down 1.1 per cent to $22.84 and $23.30 respectively, and Commonwealth Bank the least, down 0.6 per cent to $68.48.
But the real damage was felt by the insurers.
IAG shares fell 4.3 per cent to $6.65, with the company expecting the bill from Thursday evening's storm to hit $169 million, while fellow insurer Suncorp lost 3.9 per cent to $12.42.
Lower oil prices dragged the energy sector into the red, with Origin, Caltex and Beach Energy between 1.7 and 2.7 per cent weaker.
Materials was one of only two sectors to close in the black, lifted by BHP rising 2.3 per cent to $33.36, and Rio Tinto and South 32 were 0.7 and one per cent higher.
The gold miners glistened after a near $US19 per ounce rise in the yellow metal, supporting a 3.7 per cent lift from Northern Star.
Evolution, Newcrest, Saracen and St Barbara were all in the black.
Healthcare was the other positive mover, buoyed by sector benchmark CSL rising 1.2 per cent to $177.73.
Healthscope shares jumped 5.8 per cent after announcing Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management intends proceeding with its takeover offer.
The telco sector suffered the biggest percentage loss as Telstra and TPG fell 3.9 and 2.3 per cent.
The Australian dollar strengthened slightly against its US counterpart at risk of a partial government shutdown.
The Aussie was buying 71.06 US cents at 1630 AEDT, from 70.91 US cents on Thursday.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 38.2 points, or 0.69 per cent to 5467.6
* The All Ordinaries was down 39.6 points, or 0.71 per cent, at 5533.3
* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down 53 points, or 0.98 per cent, at 5378.0
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.06 US cents, from 70.91 US cents on Thursday
* 79.15 Japanese yen, from 79.58
* 62.09 euro cents, from 62.27
* 56.17 British pence, from 56.13
* 104.99 NZ cents, from 105.32
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1630 AEDT was $US1259.4 per fine ounce, from $US1244.8 on Thursday.
Wall Street stocks fell sharply in volatile trading on Friday, with the Nasdaq confirming it is in a bear market, as concerns of slowing economic growth led investors to flee stocks in high-valuation sectors such as technology and communication services.
The major U.S. stocks indexes accelerated declines in the last hour of trading after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the United States and China might not reach a trade deal at the close of a 90-day negotiating window unless Beijing can agree to a profound overhaul of its economic policies.
With Friday’s losses, the Nasdaq has fallen nearly 22 percent from its Aug. 29 high. The tech-heavy index dropped to its lowest level since August 2017.
The benchmark S&P 500 index, already on pace for its biggest percentage decline in December since the Great Depression, hit its lowest level since July 2017. It is now down 17.5 percent from its closing high on Sept. 20. The Dow Industrials fell to its lowest level since October 2017 and has declined 16.3 percent from its Oct. 3 closing high.
The mid-cap S&P 400 also confirmed it is in a bear market.
Navarro’s comments added to already-mounting concerns over political uncertainty and the possibility of a slowdown in economic growth.
“That’s definitely a weight on the market,” said Shannon Saccocia, chief investment officer at Boston Private, of Navarro’s comments. “For investors, there’s a heck of a lot of small storms to be sailing ships through.”
The increasing likelihood of a partial government shutdown injected further pessimism into U.S. stock markets. President Donald Trump said there was a very good chance a government funding bill, which includes funding for a wall along the Mexico border, would not pass the Senate.
The looming shutdown threat, along with Navarro’s comments, overshadowed remarks from New York Fed President John Williams that the Fed was open to reassessing its views, which provided a fleeting boost to the markets.
Technology and communication services stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, falling 3.0 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.
The FAANG group of momentum stocks fared poorly. Facebook Inc shares tumbled 6.3 percent, Amazon.com Inc shares slid 5.7 percent and Netflix Inc shares sank 5.4 percent. Shares of both Apple Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc dropped more than 3 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 414.23 points, or 1.81 percent, to 22,445.37, the S&P 500 lost 50.84 points, or 2.06 percent, to 2,416.58 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 195.41 points, or 2.99 percent, to 6,333.00.
For the week, the S&P 500 fell 7.05 percent, the Dow dropped 6.87 percent, and the Nasdaq declined 8.36 percent.
For the second day in a row, more than 2,600 New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq-listed stocks hit 52-week lows. The day before, nearly 3,000 stocks hit their low for the year, the most in any one day since October 2008.
Adding to volatility was “quadruple-witching,” when options on stocks and indexes as well as futures on indexes and stocks expire. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.18 billion shares, its highest level in nearly two-and-a-half years, compared to the 8.81 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
Among Wall Street’s advancers were shares of Nike Inc, which jumped 7.2 percent after the company’s quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 3.57-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.77-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 174 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded five new highs and 857 new lows.
Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup
For those of you with nothing better to do, please join me for a Christmas Eve brekkie.
In consideration of others, PLEASE include the STOCK CODE in all your posts.
Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.
