Australian share prices dropped 0.60 percent on Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines following a poor lead from the United States and weaker resources stocks, dealers said. The benchmark SP/ASX200 fell 29.1 points to 4,830.3 while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 27.1 points, or 0.56 percent, to 4,832.6. Trade was light, with turnover amounting to 2.71 billion shares worth 4.15 billion dollars (3.83 billion US).
Some 448 stocks closed up, 652 down and 361 were unchanged. IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter said the Australian market held up well given the weak lead from the US where prices slumped Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 109.13 points, or 1.08 percent, to 9,972.18.
"The materials sector detracted the most points while the financials rallied off their lows ahead of Australian bank reporting later this week," Potter said. Major miner BHP Billiton dropped 1.17 percent to close at 39.73 dollars and Rio Tinto fell 0.87 percent to 66.91 dollars.
The major banks were mostly lower ahead of the reporting season, which begins Wednesday with National Australia Bank (NAB). NAB shares dropped 0.49 percent to 30.76 dollars. ANZ Banking Group declined 0.21 percent to 23.80 dollars and Commonwealth Bank was down 0.46 percent at 55.98 dollars. Westpac went against the trend, closing up 0.84 percent at 27.53 dollars. Energy stocks were down with Woodside Petroleum off 1.83 percent at 50.85 dollars, Santos dropping 0.71 percent to 15.44 dollars and Oil Search losing 0.16 percent to 6.10 dollars.
Comments
Comments are closed.