ASX 200 closes 0.5% lower. Qantas, IOOF, Ardent losses, Flight Centre recovers, Woolies buyback

ASX ended its three-day winning streak to finish 0.5 per cent lower. Miners came under pressure and Appen dropped 21 per cent.

Travel stocks have been big risers in the last few days. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, August 26. The ASX 200 has snapped its three-day winning streak, ending 0.5 per cent lower. It was the biggest fall in seven days.

 Qantas has posted a $2.35bn loss for the 2021 financial year, in a slight improvement on 2020's $2.7bn loss.

A2 Milk’s full-year profit has crashed 79.1 per cent to $NZ80.7m ($77.35M), as it reels from Covid-19 travel restrictions and a flat Chinese infant formula market.

Woolworths has rewarded investors with a $2bn share buyback, at the top end of the range of capital management flagged earlier this year, as well as a 14.5 per cent lift in its final dividend.

Private new capital expenditure rose 4.4% vs 2.6% expected according to Bloomberg.

Wall Street drifted higher into record territory. The Dow rose 0.1 per cent while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both gained 0.2 per cent. European stocks were mixed as markets awaited a key speech by US Fed chief Jerome Powell.