Australia Market edges lower

The Australian share market finished session marginally lower on Friday, 21 August 2020, as investors remained on the sidelines with few other market-moving events. Most of ASX sectors declined, with healthcare, financials, materials, utilities and consumer staples contributed the most to the broader losses. Real Estate was the best performing sector closely followed by improvements for industrials and energy, even with a fall in global oil prices.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 8.84 points, or 0.14%, to 6,111.18. The broader All Ordinaries was down 0.96 points, or 0.02%, to 6,270.72. For the week, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index lost about 0.2%, snapping two straight weeks of gains.

The big four banks fell between 0.2% and 0.9%. Westpac, ANZ and NAB slipped between 0.2 and 0.4%, while Commonwealth Bank shed 0.9%. Financial conglomerate Suncorp soared 11% on the release of its FY20 profit results.

Fund management company MyState lost 3.9% after it reported a 3% decrease in full-year profit and said it will not pay a final dividend to shareholders.

Energy companies Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search rose about 1% despite crude oil prices slipping overnight. Santos jumped 3.6%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7185, in a turbulent trading week that has seen it from levels above $0.724 to below $0.716.

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