Australia Market ends flat

The Australian share market finished session virtually flat on Tuesday, 14 December 2021, as concerns about the omicron variant returned to focus following its first death case worldwide. ASX sectors were mixed, with gains in materials and financials offset losses in the consumer staples and consumer discretionary stocks.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 edged down 0.88 point, or 0.01%, to 7,378.39. The broader All Ordinaries index added marginal 0.78 point, or 0.01%, to 7,698.29.

The top performing stocks in this index were POLYNOVO and BLACKMORES, up 15.4% and 6.7% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were MESOBLAST and WOOLWORTHS GROUP, down 17.35% and 7.67% respectively.

Total 6 of 11 sectors ended higher. A-REIT was the best performing sector, gaining +1.15%, while consumer staples was the worst performing sector, falling 0.27%,

Shares of retailers declined on renewed concerns that the Omicron variant may cause a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, with Woolworths Group plunging 8% after Australia's biggest supermarket chain forecast lower first-half operating income from its domestic food business. Shares of Coles declined 2.7%.

Afterpay closed 4.1% lower at $90.83 after shareholders approved the sale to Block, formerly Square.

Mesoblast shares plunged 17.4% after revealing Novartis was walking away from a planned deal. But PolyNovo jumped 15.4% to $1.57 after record sales.

Trading was halted on CSL as it prepared details of a $17.2 billion takeover of Swiss firm Vifor.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia NAB Business Conditions Improve Moderately In November- Australia's business conditions improved moderately in November as the post-lockdown rebound impact waned, while confidence weakened notably from October, survey results from NAB showed on Tuesday. The business conditions index rose to 12 in November from 10 in the previous month. The improvement in conditions was driven by employment, which rose 5 points to +11 index points. At the same time, trading conditions and profitability were largely steady in November.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7117, falling back from earlier levels of around $0.713.

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