ASX 200 live: Ex-div Woodside slides as Brent falls below $US70; $2bn-plus hit from Cyclone Alfred for insurers

Casino operator's deal with Hong Kong partners to help avoid administration. Ex-dividend trading, oil price slide weigh on bourse. Insurers face $2bn-plus hit from Cyclone Alfred. APRA moves to tighten financial board rules.

Global and local economic updates, Cyclone Alfred's challenges and dividend handouts are all on investor radars this week. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, March 6. The ASX 200 index closed 0.6 per cent lower to 8094.70 points. The energy sector shed as much as 3 per cent on Brent crude's slide below $US70 per barrel and Woodside trading ex-dividend.

Local heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto were also on the long list of companies trading ex-dividend.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes lifted 1 per cent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.5 per cent after US President Donald Trump announced a one-month pause on auto tariffs on Canada and Mexico and suggested an openness to more exemptions.

Cryptocurrency giant bitcoin was back above $US92,000 at 5pm AEDT.

The Aussie dollar was trading around US63.38c.

Originally published as ASX 200 live: Ex-div Woodside slides as Brent falls below $US70; $2bn-plus hit from Cyclone Alfred for insurers