Australia Market gains on bargain hunting

Headline indices of the Australia market were higher on Tuesday, 16 October 2018, as investors chased for bottom fishing following recent losses. However, market gains were modest amid continuing U.S.-China trade war rhetoric and increasing geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and the international community following the disappearance of the Saudi journalist. Among ASX issues, shares in consumer discretionary, materials, industrials, and financials issues being notable gainers, while telecommunication, healthcare, and tech issues were notable losers. Around late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index added 32.80 points, or 0.56%, at 5,869.90 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 29.79 points, or 0.5%, to 5,977.80 points.

Shares of materials and resources companies were higher, with BHP up by 1.4% following news it had upped its share in SolGold, bolstering its position against top shareholder Newcrest Mining as it eyes SolGold's promising Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador. Rio Tinto was up 1.4% despite its third-quarter iron ore shipments falling 5% on planned maintenance and safety pauses following a fatality.

 

Whitehaven Coal shares fell more than 1% after reports that its sales fell 14 percent in the September quarter, reflecting mechanical issues that impacted output from its Narrabri mine. The company's shares fell more than 1%.

Shares of banks and financial players were higher, with ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank shares up by between 0.2 to 0.7%, however Macquarie Group lost 0.7%. National Australia Bank announced A$314m in costs as part of its remediation program. It expects this to reduce second half profits by around A$261m.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was higher against greenback and other major currencies on Monday. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7139, up from $0.7105 on Monday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed down on Monday. The S&P 500 slipped by 0.6% to 2,750.79 while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.9% to 7,430.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 89.44 points to 25,250.55.

European shares closed mostly higher on Monday. The German DAX Index advanced by 0.8% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5%, while the French CAC 40 Index bucked the uptrend and closed marginally lower.

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