Comments
Australian shares fell to their lowest in seven months on Thursday following slides across global markets that saw major banks and miners all come under pressure, outweighing upbeat earnings from Qantas Airways and other companies.
The S&P/ASX 200 index shed 1.4 per cent or 75.6 points to 5,304.6 by 0307 GMT. It fell as far as 5,296.1, a low last seen in late January.
The big four banks were led by a 2.4 per cent fall in Commonwealth Bank, while mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both down more than 2 per cent.
Among energy stocks, oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum plumbed to a three-year low of A$31.43 as US crude struggled at 6-1/2 year lows.
Even Qantas, which reported a return to profit, was not spared. Shares in the airline were down 1.1 per cent in afternoon trade, a big turnaround from a seven-year peak of A$3.90 reached earlier following a 3.7 per cent gain.
The broad sell-off came after US and European stocks fell overnight amid ongoing worries about slowing Chinese growth and uncertainty about when the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates.
“Clearly there are growth fears out of China and issues around if and when and how and what will happen with the Fed,’’ said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG. “There are also issues around the oil price and what is going on with copper. Just general uncertainty and that’s what is feeding through.’’
New Zealand stocks were also lower with the benchmark NZX50 share index shedding 0.2 per cent or 12.9 points to 5,737.1.
Among leading stocks, telecommunications company Spark was down 2.0 per cent ahead of Friday’s results announcement.
Specialised milk producer A2 Milk slumped 9.1 per cent to a one-month low after reporting a loss on one off costs but a lift in operating earnings. It also said it had heard nothing from potential bidders after rebuffing them last month.
In contrast, online auction and market operator Trade Me rallied 4.2 per cent as it reported a flat profit but said it expected earnings growth in the coming year.
Rubber goods manufacturer Skellerup climbed 5.9 per cent to a one-month high after reporting a 6 per cent rise in profit and forecast earnings growth.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.