ASX falls on weaker than expected China figures

The ASX 200 has fallen from a record high, as investors are disappointed with the economic growth of Australia’s largest trading partner.

The Australian sharemarket retreated from its record high following disappointing figures out of China, which put pressure on the materials sector, during trading on Friday.

The benchmark ASX 200 index fell by 72.70 points, or 0.87 per cent, to finish the session at 8,283.20 points.

The broader All Ordinaries fell by 72.90 points, or 0.85 per cent, to close at 8,551.20 points.

The Australian dollar is trading up slightly, rising 0.1 per cent to 67.02 US cents.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 finished virtually unchanged, although it was down 0.02 per cent from its previous highest. The Dow Jones added 161 points or 0.4 per cent to set another record while the Nasdaq was up 6.53 points or 0.04 per cent.

Despite a flat start for the ASX, investors saw red across the board with all 11 sectors trading lower on Friday along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index.

Financials were the best performing stocks, falling 0.09 per cent, off the back of late market gains, although it still finished the day in the red.

All 11 sectors on the ASX were trading lower. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.

Overall, it was the worst day of trading on the ASX for the past six weeks.

BHP (down 2.16 per cent), Rio Tinto (down 0.85 per cent) and Fortescue (down 1.86 per cent) all fell during trading, off the back of weaker than expected commodity prices.

The price of iron ore fell 4 per cent on Thursday night, with traders hoping a stronger bounce in the Chinese economy would help stabilise the price.

Instead results released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed gross domestic product rose by 4.6 per cent over the 12 months until the end of September, below the 5 per cent target the country was aiming to achieve.“

“The Chinese economy grew slower than the government had forecasted and markets had hoped for,” independent economist Saul Eslake said.

“Exports to China are 7 per cent of Australia’s GDP and our markets benefit from things that boost iron ore and coal.”

Mr Eslake said it was surprising how well the iron ore price had held up, given the biggest source of demand for iron ore in China was steel for property construction.

The travel sector remains under pressure with Flight Centre being by far and away the worst performer on Friday, falling 20.44 per cent to $17.20

The slide comes after a vague trading update during the Morgan’s conference, when the travel company gave a vague update.

In a statement Flight Centre said it was “trading marginally above FY24 Q1 across most key metrics – TTV, profit margin, underlying profit – but currently too early to draw concussions as to likely trading patterns over the year”.

Travel was heavily impacted in trading on the ASX on Friday. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Wei-Weng Chen said the company appeared to have delivered an FY25 downgrade, in line with weaker outlook from peers.

“Incomplete details have been provided but our interpretation of FLT’s trading update appears to suggest a large downgradeto consensus 1H25 and likely FY25 expectations,” the analyst said in a note.

“Further, comments that FLT expects FY25 to be heavily 2H weighted suggest to us that the skew this year could be greaterthan last year.”

Flight Centre is now trading at its lowest price since November 2023.

Shares in rivals Corporate Travel Management and Web Travel Group were also down 9.50 and 4.11 per cent respectively, withWeb Travel Group announcing a gloomy outlook earlier in the week.

Originally published as ASX falls on weaker than expected China figures