ASX opens lower; Smiggle, Just Jeans, Peter Alexander to reopen
The Australian share market is struggling as many sectors continue to trade lower, while the owner of Smiggle, Just Jeans and Peter Alexander announced most stores would reopen on Friday.
Australian share market has seen losses of more than 1.0 per cent, with most sectors trading lower.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index down 73.1 points, or 1.34 per cent, to 5388.1 points at 1200 AEST on Tuesday.
The All Ordinaries index was 74.6 points lower, or 1.34 per cent, at 5484.5.
Energy and materials were the sectors with the heaviest falls, down 2.44 and 1.97 per cent respectively.
Oil Search was among the energy companies to suffer most, falling 4.28 per cent to $2.79.
A number of big miners had substantial falls. South32 fell 8.5 cents, or 4.42 per cent, to $1.8. BlueScope lost 42 cents, or 4.03 per cent, to $10.00. Its bigger peers did not fare much better. BHP lost 90 cents, or 2.58 per cent, to $30.65; Rio fell $1.31, or 1.56 per cent, to $82.68; and Fortescue was down 32.5 cents, or 2.68 per cent, to $11.78.
Building materials supplier CSR provided one of few brights spots. Its shares traded as much as 10 per cent higher after it reported full-year profit was up 61 per cent to $125.3 million.
The profit surge was a result of its aluminium operations benefiting from a lower Aussie dollar.
CSR shares eased to be up 8.58 per cent at $3.67.
Premier Investments, which owns the Smiggle, Just Jeans and Peter Alexander shops, received a boost after saying it would reopen its stores. Its share price gained 8.0 cents, or 0.52 per cent, to $15.50. Holiday bookings platform Webjet had a marked turnaround from a 19 per cent gain on Monday, with its shares 6.86 per cent down to $3.26.
The big four banks were trading lower. NAB was doing the worst, down 2.57 per cent to $15.57. The others were down by more than 1 per cent. The big goldminers felt the downcast sentiment. Northern Star was struggling the most with a 1.74 per cent loss to $12.97.
Consumer staples and healthcare were the only sectors in positive territory, up 0.08 and 0.71 per cent respectively.
CSL was higher by 0.7 per cent to $304.27.
SPI Futures had indicated a drop in the ASX. Wall Street was split overnight as continued gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped cover more prevalent losses elsewhere.
One Australian dollar bought 64.43 US cents at 1200 AEST, down from 65.40 at the close of trade on Monday.
Gold was trading at $US1696.22 an ounce.
SMIGGLE, JUST JEANS, PETER ALEXANDER TO REOPEN
Premier Investments says it will reopen all its remaining Australian stores from May 15 and its New Zealand stores from May 14.
The owner of the Smiggle, Just Jeans and Peter Alexander brands had temporarily shut its stores in Australia since March 26 after the federal and state governments introduced strict social distancing measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.
Premier had already reopened most of its stores in Queensland and the Northern Territory on May 7 following the easing of restrictions there.
Premier said its total sales were down 74 per cent for the six weeks to May 6 as a result of the closures but online sales had doubled for the period.
It comes as stocks on the Australian market slipped about 0.5 per cent in early trade after mixed results in the US overnight.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index was lower by 29.8 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 5431.4 points after the first 15 minutes of trade.
The All Ordinaries index was 29.9 points lower, or 0.54 per cent, at 5529.2.
Property and information technology suffered the most, with the sectors down 2.4 and 1.2 per cent respectively.
The financial sector was down 0.69 per cent and materials were lower by 0.91 per cent.
Consumer staples and healthcare were the only sectors in positive territory, up 0.72 and 0.85 per cent respectively.
One Australian dollar bought 64.65 US cents at 1015 AEST, down from 65.40 at the close of trade on Monday. Gold is trading at $US1694.89 an ounce.
On Wall Street, the looming threat of a second wave of coronavirus infections spooked traders and sent stock markets downwards on Monday (local time).
Early gains in key eurozone markets were lost by trading’s close, and London scraped into positive territory in the final minutes of trading as the pound weakened.
By the late morning in New York, the Dow Jones index was about 150 points lower.
Meanwhile, British billionaire Richard Branson is gearing up to sell part of his stake in Virgin Galactic to help fund his airline and other travel-related industries. Virgin Galactic stock sank.
Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, is looking to sell up to 25 million shares of Virgin Galactic, worth roughly $504.5 million ($A765 million).
The shares account for nearly 22 per cent of Mr Branson’s total Virgin Galactic stake, which was worth about $US2.32 billion ($A3.5 billion) at the end of last week.
The market’s volatility was no doubt fuelled by second-wave coronavirus fears in countries such as China, South Korea and perhaps Germany, “which should be a lesson to those countries preparing for looser restrictions,” said Craig Erlam, an analyst at OANDA.
The US dollar strength was a positive sign but gold was up by less than one per cent and the yen took a hit against the dollar.
China closed marginally lower despite slight gains earlier in the day and a pledge from the People’s Bank of China to deliver “more powerful policies” to protect the Chinese economy.
New cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak started in February, did little for market confidence, while in the US, unemployment has soared to 14.7 per cent, the highest since the Great Depression.
Oil prices varied after surges last week due to an expected pick-up demand that didn’t eventuate.
The Saudi Arabian government unveiled plans on Monday to triple its value-added tax and put a freeze on monthly allowances in the wake of record low oil prices.
Originally published as ASX opens lower; Smiggle, Just Jeans, Peter Alexander to reopen
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