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Aussie shares are slipping by 0.4 per cent on Thursday, with the ASX 200 falling back below 6500pts due mainly to profit taking on the major banks. It is worth mentioning this the market’s first fall in seven days and that equities hit a fresh 11.5 year high on Wednesday.
The surprise Coalition victory at the weekend together with the Reserve Bank flagging potential rate cuts in coming months has helped shares so far this week. Some of momentum has waned over the past two sessions however, with the ASX 200 struggling to remains above 6500pts while the US-China trade war continues to lurk in the background.
While the big four banks are down by as much as 2.5 per cent on Thursday they are still on track to post their best weekly gains of 2019. Investors were anticipating reforms telegraphed by Labor and with a surprise election outcome the market has entered a period of recalibration.
BHP Billiton (BHP) is another weight on the market, slipping by 1.7 per cent as the price of oil and most other metals went backwards overnight. An exception is Fortescue Metals (FMG), which is up 2.8 per cent as the price of iron ore hit a fresh five-year high a day after the miner went ex-dividend.
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Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) is surging by 8 per cent after posting a 15 per cent lift in half year profit to $356.5m thanks to strong demand for poker machine games in Australia and the U.S.
The Reject Shop (TRS) is down 6.6 per cent after its CEO quit, announced a number of store closures and is now expecting to post a loss of up to $2m for the year (previously flagged profits of between $3.1m – $4.1m just three months ago).
Kogan.com (KGN) is down 4 per cent on reports the ACCC launched legal action against the online retailer, alleging it misled customers by offering discounts on products after raising prices.
1.4bn shares have changed hands so far, worth $2.6bn. 495 stocks are up, 485 are down and 370 are unchanged.
No major market moving data is due for release today.
The Australian dollar remains under some pressure partly on the RBA flagging rate cuts on Tuesday and a strengthening USD as the US-China conflict worsens.
Published by CommSec
