Market opens on the back foot
Aussie shares opened 1.4% lower as persistent declines on the Wall Street translated to broad based weakness in local markets. Heavyweight miners and financials lead losses ahead of tomorrow’s holiday.
A disappointing session on Wall Street on Friday set the stage for today’s sell off. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all fell on fears that the White House's plan to curb bank risk-taking would cut profits. Disappointing results from Google also soured sentiment.
Despite acknowledging that US bank regulation would have a limited effect on local banks, NAB, CBA and Westpac were all down 1.5%. ANZ endured a more pronounced sell off, falling 2.3%.
Among miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 1.9% and 1.4%, taking a combined 12 points off the index. Fortescue fell 2.3%.
Notable gainers included gold and copper specialist Newcrest, which was up 0.5%. Meanwhile, Macquarie Infrastructure rallied 3.9% after concluding a portfolio review that saw valuations remain fairly steady compared to June 2009.
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