Australia Market falls; miners, lenders drag

Headline indices of the Australia market closed down on Thursday, 27 September 2018, as risk aversion selloff triggered on tracking soft lead from Wall Street overnight after the U.S. Federal Reserve lifted its key interest rate as expected for the third time this year and forecasted another rate hike by end 2018 and predicted that it will continue to tighten credit into 2020 to manage growth and inflation. Among ASX issues, shares in financials, materials, healthcare, and industrials issues being notable losers, while telecommunication and information technology issues were notable gainers. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 11.06 points, or 0.18%, at 6181.22 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 8.45 points, or 0.13%, lower at 6299.33 points.

Shares of materials and resources companies were down, on lower copper prices. Copper was on track for fourth straight day of losses on Thursday after falling 0.6% in the previous session, amid escalating Sino-US trade tensions. Global miner BHP dropped as much as 1.2%, while Rio Tinto dipped 0.8%.

Shares of banks and financial players were lower on caution ahead of an interim report due on Friday from a powerful inquiry into the financial services sector. Westpac shares lost 0.7% to A$27.61, while Commonwealth Bank was down 0.1% to A$70.08.

Among individual stocks, Beach Energy shares closed 7.5% higher after saying it plans to double production in the next five years.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was tad lower against greenback and other major currencies on Thursday. The Aussie dollar was buying 72.26 US cents, from 72.61 US cents on Wednesday; 81.41 Japanese yen, from 81.93; 61.78 euro cents, from 61.72; 55.02 British pence, from 55.10; and 108.89 NZ cents, from 108.96.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed down on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106.93 points or 0.4% to 26,385.28, the Nasdaq dipped 17.10 points or 0.2% to 7,990.37 and the S&P 500 fell 9.59 points or 0.3% to 2,905.97.

The major European markets ended higher on Wednesday. The German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both inched up by 0.1%, while the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6%.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News