Australian stocks slip ahead of Donald Trump speech on tax reform

Local stocks edged lower as investors awaited a key speech by US President Donald Trump on tax reform.

Trade was light and cautious on the ASX.

The Australian share market edged lower as investors awaited a key speech by US President Donald Trump on tax reform.

The benchmark S & P/ASX200 ended down 6.7 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 5,664.3 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 4.1 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5,725.5 points.

Choppy, hesitant trade persisted on the local market as investors refused to fully commit to risk plays ahead of a widely-anticipated speech from Mr Trump on tax reform, which could provide a key indicator for the world’s largest economy.

“Trading across the region was extremely light today, locally we were down more than 10 per cent on average daily volume, unusual for a Wednesday,” said CMC chief market strategist Michael McCarthy.

“Across the region in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai we saw volume that were 25-35 per cent below average, despite a reasonable backdrop and a good lead in, it appears that investors were largely uninterested.”

In financials, Commonwealth Bank ended the session down 0.33 per cent at $74.85, while ANZ ANZ slid 0.17 per cent, to $29.81. NAB slipped 0.1 per cent to $31.30. But Westpac bucked the trend, edging up 0.19 per cent to $31.95.

In resources, Rio Tinto jumped 1.44 per cent to $66.80, while BHP gained 0.16 per cent to $25.83. Fortescue surged 3.38 per cent to $5.20.

In energy, AGL shed 0.82 per cent to $22.85, after the company said the sale or extension of the life of the Liddell power plant was unlikely, despite pressure from Canberra. CEO Andy Vesey instead outlined a plan to replace the plant’s output with a giant battery and gas power station as well as more renewables.

Santos let go 0.72 per cent to $4.14, while Origin Energy made 0.81 per cent to $7.45 after gas exporters guaranteed the government they would offer the domestic market enough gas to cover next year’s expected shortfall.

Woodside Petroleum backtracked 0.43 per cent to $29.85 and Oil Search grew 0.85 per cent to $7.11. Beach Energy lifted 2.48 per cent to 82.5 cents.

Elsewhere Myer surged 9.93 per cent to 78c, after retail billionaire Solomon Lew requested a copy of the Myer share register to potentially write to its shareholders.

“Myer shareholders are thinking that Premier are going to act as some sort of watchdog,” said Ben Le Brun of optionsXpress.

“(Lew) has got some strong ideas about what he wants to see play out at Myer and he wants shareholders on his side, so I think that’s where the Myer share price is getting a little bit of a boost.”

It comes after Mr Lew, whose Premier Investments holds a more than 10 per cent stake in Myer, launched a fresh attack on the department store’s management. Premier Investments dropped 1.95 per cent lower at $12.58.

Telstra hit a five-year low, down 1.42 per cent to $3.48.

Stocks in Tabcorp and Tatts Group softened amid uncertainty around their proposed merger. Tabcorp closed the session down 3 per cent to $4.20 and Tatts Group shed 2.71 per cent, $3.95 at the close.

At 4.30pm (AEST), the Australian dollar was 0.34 per cent lower at US78.59c.