Following the Reserve Bank’s widely anticipated decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, the local sharemarket finished the session in negative territory, after the ASX 200 fell 0.5 per cent or 34.3 points, to 7291.3.
Seven (of 11) sectors lost ground today, driven partly by a sell-off on Wall Street overnight. Gold miners West
African Resources (WAF), St Barbara (SBM) and Ramelius Resources (RMS) were amongst the ASX 200’s worst performers, weighed by a 1.6 per cent drop in the gold futures price overnight. However, coal miners Whitehaven Coal (WHC) and Coronado Global Resources (CRN) were amongst today’s best performing stocks, adding 2.7 and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
In company news, Magellan Financial Group (MFG) announced an update on its funds under management (FUM). The company announced that its total FUM fell by 1.6 per cent in November, to $50.2 billion. This was driven
by a 3 per cent fall in its institutional FUM to $29.6bn. This year so far, its total FUM and its share price have fallen
47.4 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively. MFG closed 3.3 per cent lower and was around one-month lows.
Gold explorer Bellevue Gold (BGL) entered into a trading halt today after announcing a $70 million capital raise. Its
offer price of $1.05 per share represents a 13.2 per cent discount to its last close. BGL aims to use the funds raised
to ‘accelerate underground development and ramp-up exploration’. Year-to-date BGL shares have risen 42.4 per cent.
Bank of Queensland (BOQ) held its annual general meeting today. It said that the removal of its CEO comes
after the board concluded that they ‘need a different capability and leadership style to build a simpler and more
resilient bank’. BOQ shares shed 0.4 per cent.
In economic news, the RBA raised the official cash rate by 25 basis points, to a decade high of 3.1 per cent. The
Board also mentioned in their statement, that they expect ‘to increase interest rates’ further over ‘the period ahead’.
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Ahead: In the US, the international trade balance is scheduled with the weekly Johnson Redbook chain store sales report.
Today, 3bn shares were traded, worth $7.1bn. 469 stocks rose, 879 fell & 439 finished unchanged.
Originally published by CommSec
