Australia: Market falls in subdued trade

Headline indices of the Australia market were lower in subdued public holiday trading on Monday, 1 October 2018, with shares in materials and banks and financial issues being notable losers. In late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 37.36 points, or 0.6%, at 6,170.20 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 34.62 points, or 0.55%, higher at 6,290.90 points.

Market volume turnover was thin as thousands of traders were enjoying a public holiday. NSW, the ACT and South Australia are celebrating Labour Day while Queensland is celebrating the Queen's Birthday.

Shares of materials and resources companies were weak after data showing a slowdown in China's manufacturing sector in September, with BHP and Rio Tinto both down (0.25 and 0.6% respectively) after confirming mining asset sales last week.

Shares of banks and financial players declined amid calls to extend the banking royal commission, which was revealed to have received more than 10,000 public submissions about misconduct. Westpac recorded the biggest loss, down 1.6% to A$27.485, followed by Commonwealth Bank, down 1.5% to A$70.37, ANZ, down 1.4% to A$27.79, and NAB, down 0.7% to A$27.63. Macquarie Bank was also in the red, down 1.9% to A$123.695 after revealing that the inquiry had received 10,140 submissions from the public, with 61% of these related to the banks..

Energy shares were mixed despite crude oil prices jumping amid tightening supply. WTI crude for November delivery rose $1.13 or 1.6% to settle at $73.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil Search fell 1%, while Woodside Petroleum added 0.3% and Santos was up 0.6%.

In economic news, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed that the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in September, and at a faster rate, with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 59.0. That's up from 56.7 in August, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was up against greenback and other major currencies on Monday. The Australian dollar is buying 72.23 US cents, from 72.18 US cents on Friday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed mixed on Friday, amid uncertainty about trade as the U.S. and Canada approached a September 30 deadline to reach an agreement for Canada to join a trade deal struck between the U.S. and Mexico. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 18.38 points or 0.1% to 26,458.31 and the Nasdaq crept up 4.38 points or 0.1% to 8,046.35, while the S&P 500 edged down by 0.02 points to 2,913.98.

The major European markets ended lower on Friday. The German DAX Index tumbled by 1.5%, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5%.

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