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The Aussie market has failed to follow Wall Street higher with another record session for major US indices overnight. The ASX 200 is softer at lunch on Tuesday, down 41 points or 0.6% to 6,839 around midday and trading at intraday lows as it eases back from the 11-month highs hit just yesterday.
Losses are across most of the market with only energy and IT slightly advancing after the first few hours of trade. All others are in the red with utilities, industrials and consumer discretionary all falling sharply and more than 1%.
Individually, it is declines among the big four banks which is weighing down the broader market most. ANZ Bank (ANZ) and National Bank (NAB) are both ~1.6% lower while Westpac (WBC) and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) are ~1.3% lower. CBA will be releasing its first half profit results tomorrow.
The biggest mover among on the upside for the ASX 200 is fellow financial company, Macquarie Group (MQG). The investment bank is up 6.5% following an operational and quarterly update. While the bank continues to anticipate its FY21 profit to be lower than FY20, the commentary suggests that it could still outperform the market’s expectations for MQG, particularly through its Commodities & Global Markets division.
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There have also been some large moves to both the upside and downside on companies releasing profit results. Investment group, Challenger (CGF) is sliding 13% on its first half numbers. 1H21 net profit after tax, while up 1.1% to $222.8 million, was below expectations. CGF expects its results to be skewed towards the second half of the financial year as it looks to deploy more funds into higher returning assets.
Other companies to release profit results today included Suncorp Group (SUN) which is 2.5% higher, property groups Dexus (DXS), SCA Property (SCP) and Scentre Group (SCG) are all weaker on profit numbers as is Boral Ltd (BLD).
Elsewhere, Crown Resorts (CWN) is in a trading halt as it awaits a report from the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority into its NSW gaming licence.
Published by CommSec
