Australia Market retreats from record highs on lockdown worries

The Australian share market finished session down on Monday, 16 August 2021, as investors opted to secure recent profit after run of record highs for the benchmark S&P/ASX200, amidst fears of weakening economic recovery in China and extension of certain coronavirus restrictions in the country.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 46.47 points, or 0.61%, to 7,682.46. The broader All Ordinaries dropped 48.06 points, or 0.61%, to 7,849.62. The market decline followed a 1.2% lift last week and eight record highs hit over the past 11 sessions.

Total 6 of 11 sectors ended higher despite the decline in the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Consumer Staples was the best performing sector, gaining +1.14%, while energy was the worst performing sector, loosing 3.36%.

Chinese economic data showed a surprisingly sharp slowdown in retail sales, industrial production and urban investment, numbers that are expected to soften further amid tightening pandemic restrictions in the country.

Over the past day, a record 478 new cases were identified in NSW, the ACT extended its lockdown after identifying 19 cases, Melbourne's lockdown will be extended by two weeks with a curfew imposed from 9pm to 5pm every night while the Northern Territory is also entering lockdown.

The A2 Milk Company rallied more than 12% over reports of possible takeover from Swiss food company Nestle.

JB Hi-Fi (JBH) rose by 2.5% after handing down a 67.4% lift in full-year earnings to $506.1m and 12.6% gain in sales to $8.92bn. JBH's earnings received a boost during the pandemic over the past year thanks to the working (and entertaining) from home trend. However, JBH warned that sales have fallen 14.9% so far this financial year due to lockdowns.

Beach Energy declined by more than 9% after the oil producer reported a dip in its revenue as well as profit for the financial year 2021.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank crashed more than 9% post earnings report. Cash profit rose by 5.5% to $457.2m, while it declared its first final dividend since 2019. However, the 26.5c dividend will be its smallest payment per share since 2009.

Sydney Airport closed 0.7% lower at $7.70 after rejecting a sweetened takeover bid from a consortium of major superannuation investors. SYD has rejected the offer, which is 20c above the initial offer made on 5 July. SYD maintains that this 'continues to undervalue' the airport and that it isn't in the best interest of shareholders.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7338 as compared with an earlier high of $0.7373

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