With overseas markets once more spooked by the spreading Covid-19 coronavirus, Aussie shares were set up for a tepid day.
Wall Street was red all over as the Dow Jones lost 0.44 per cent and the Nasdaq 0.67 per cent. Things fared similarly in Europe, with London’s Footsie losing 0.27 per cent and while we slept down under.
As such, our local ASX 200 index gave back some of yesterday’s record ground soon after opening and continued to trade steadily in the red. When Aussie shares closed shop for the weekend, the index was trading 0.33 per cent lower and at 7139 points. Nevertheless, this still brings an overall week of gains with the index rising 0.5 per cent since last Friday’ close.
Today’s movements were once again underpinned by a barrage of financial reports. Yet, even the day’s winners weren’t enough to tip their sectors green.
The finance sector held back the worst of today’s potential losses as our big four banks continued to rise off of previous positive profit reports. Commonwealth Bank gained 1.08 per cent, ANZ 0.78 per cent, and Westpac 0.47 per cent. NAB almost missed out but gained a slight 0.036 per cent by the time the market closed.
The materials sector dragged things lower despite a positive production report from Galaxy Resources, which gained 5.31 per cent. After yesterday’s muted gains, BHP and Rio Tinto lost 0.78 per cent and 0.46 per cent today, respectively. Fortescue declined 1.23 per cent, while Newcrest and Amcor reversed yesterday’s losses with 1.45 per cent and 0.065 per cent respective gains.
The lowest-performers of the day, however, were consumer discretionary stocks. After enjoying two days of record highs, retail conglomerate Wesfarmers took a sudden downturn today and lost 1.96 per cent. Tabcorp lost 2.34 per cent, Crown Resorts 1.18 per cent, and even Dominoes Pizza lost 3.04 per cent.
Things weren’t much better for health care stocks, which have typically been the market’s strongest performers amid coronavirus fears. Biotech giant CSL declined 0.67 per cent today, and Cochlear lost another heavy 4.44 per cent after hitting its own all-time high share price on Wednesday.
Healthcare provider Fisher and Paykel outperformed the sector after upgrading its profit guidance, sending shares 2.84 per cent higher to a new record-high close.
Over east, Asian markets were mostly red. When the ASX closed for the weekend, the Asia Down was weaker by 0.39 per cent, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.12 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.77 per cent. Interestingly, China’s Shanghai Composite was the only splash of green in the east with a 0.59 per cent gain.
The Aussie dollar is even weaker today after yesterday’s decade-low slump. Currently, one dollar is worth 66.02 US cents, 51.19 pence, and 9.98 South African Rand.
Today’s ups and downs
Up-and-coming lithium explorer Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) is brushing shoulders with some investment giants today after its tech partner, Lilac Solutions, landed a $30 million investment from the Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The investment will support California-based Lilac’s lithium extraction technology. Lilac is one of Lake’s key business partners, using the tech to extract lithium from Lake’s Kachi project in Argentina. On the back of today’s news, Lake shares soared over 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, big-cap pharmaceutical company Mayne Pharma (ASX:MYX) shares sunk as the company posted another half-yearly loss. Competition has been fierce for its generic pharmaceutical products, according to the company. The result has been two years of costly business restructuring and refinancing by Mayne, with the company yet to step back into profitable territory since 2018. Shares sunk another 5 per cent today to a seven-year-low of 38 cents.