Miners, Crown drag on Australian stocks
The Australian sharemarket has edged lower at the open amid a persistent weakness in resources stocks.
The Australian sharemarket has edged lower to start the week as persistent weakness in resources and a heavy sell-off in Crown shares overcame strength among the big banks.
At the 10.15am (AEDT) official market open, the benchmark S & P/ASX 200 index dipped 4.1 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 5,429.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index inched down 5.8 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 5,512.7.
IG chief market strategist Chris Weston said the local market remained in an uptrend, with the key risk being a global sell-off should the key US exchange fail to hold support levels.
“Focusing on the weekly chart of the ASX 200, we can see the index still climbing within a bullish channel, but a weekly close below 5,315 changes that picture,” he said.
“One suspects it will be the S & P 500 that plays a greater role on semantics this week, so watch how price reacts into 2,116. A close through here would almost certainly set off a fresh wave of selling in global equities and we got confirmation of the support into 2,116 level on Thursday.”
Leading the falls today was James Packer’s Crown Resorts, which plunged 11.5 per cent on news 18 of its staff had been arrested in China on gambling promotion charges.
Energy stocks continued to come under pressure as a recent rally in oil prices stalled, although falls appeared modest against Crown’s woes.
Santos softened 0.1 per cent to $3.705, Oil Search slipped 0.8 per cent to $7.105, while Woodside was off 0.2 per cent to $29.48.
Action in materials was steady, with BHP Billiton tacking on 0.2 per cent to $22.59 and Fortescue adding 0.8 per cent to $4.92, while Rio Tinto lost 0.2 per cent to $50.95.
The finance sector enjoyed a steady bid, although NAB was flat.
Westpac led the way with a 0.3 per cent rise, while CBA and ANZ advanced 0.1 per cent.
Among other blue chips, Telstra inched down 0.1 per cent to $5.075, while Qantas weakened 0.2 per cent to $3.235.
Elsewhere, Macmahon was steady at 11c as its chief executive headed for the exit, while Whitehaven Coal surged 3.5 per cent on a strong quarterly report.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was steady around US76c as investors awaited key local jobs data later in the week.
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