Australia Market falls; energy, lenders drag

Headline indices of the Australian share market were down on Friday, 02 November 2018, despite overnight gains on Wall Street, with shares of energy and financials issues being notable losers. In late afternoon trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 14.10 points, or 0.24%, at 5,826.70 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 12.03 points, or 0.2%, to 5,913.90 points.

Shares of banks and financials were also lower, with Westpac, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank lower in a range of 1% to 1.3%. Macquarie (MQG) was up 4% after handing down a better than expected 5% lift in half year earnings to A$1,310m. The investment bank has also raised its guidance (forecast) for 2019, now expecting profits to lift by 10% over the year.

Shares of energy companies were down after crude oil prices fell for a fourth straight session overnight. WTI crude for December declined $0.87 or 1.3% to close at $65.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Woodside Petroleum, Caltex, Santos, and Oil Search were lower in a range of 0.5% to 2%,

ECONOMIC NEWS: The that retail sales in Australia rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% on month in September, coming in at A$26.892 billion, unchanged from the August reading, according to data released by Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics also said that final demand producer prices in Australia were up 0.8% on quarter in the third quarter of 2018, accelerating from the 0.3% gain in the second quarter.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was largely held onto earlier gains against greenback and other major currencies on Friday. The Australian dollar was quoted at 72.06 US cents, having risen by as much as 2.0% overnight on strong local trade figures.

OFFSHORE MARKET: US stock market closed higher on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged up 264.98 points or 1.1% to 25,380.74, the Nasdaq soared 128.16 points or 1.8% to 7,434.06 and the S&P 500 jumped 28.63 points or 1.1% to 2,740.37.

European markets ended mixed on Thursday. The German DAX Index rose by 0.2%, while the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both dipped by 0.2%.

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