- Join the Markets Live blog from 9am
- Earnings season - All the results
Aussie stocks are expected to back up the biggest one day fall in nine months with a tepid start after offshore markets continued the global sell off amid fears about the US Fed's commitment to its bond-buying program and concerns about slowing business activity in Europe.
On the ASX24 at 6am, the SPI futures index was 3 points lower to 4964. The Aussie dollar has eased further. It was recently buying $US1.0227, down from $US1.0238 late yesterday. It was also buying 95.13 yen, 77.60 euro cents and 67 pence.
Today wraps up a hectic week of earnings with a handful of companies reporting results. The list for today includes Santos, Macquarie Atlas Roads, Sims, Crown and NRW Holdings.
Making news today
In economics news
- RBA governor Glenn Stevens to appear before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics at Parliament House, Canberra
In company news:
- Santos full year results
- Macquarie Atlas Roads full year results
- Sims Metal Management first half results
- Platinum Asset Management first half results
- Crown first half results
- Investa Office Fund interim results
- BrisConnections Unit Trusts first half results
- Billabong first half results
- NRW Holdings first half results
Analyst rating changes:
- Qantas Airways cut to hold Deutsche Bank
- iiNet cut to neutral at JPMorgan
- Cabcharge Australia cut to neutral at CIMB
- Evolution Mining raised to outperform at Credit Suisse
- Iluka cut to underperform at CIMB
- Paperlinx cut to reduce at Nomura
- BHP cut to neutral from buy at Citi
- Fortescue cut to neutral at Credit Suisse
- Breville downgraded to neutral at Credit Suisse
Offshore overnight
United States
With about 2.5 hours of trade remaining, US stocks were down following the biggest drop since November for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after Federal Reserve minutes showed policy makers backed more flexibility in stimulus as investors weighed corporate earnings.
Key numbers:
- S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 1500.94
- Dow Jones indus avg lost 0.54% to 13851.76
- Nasdaq composite lost 1.26% to 3124.4
Europe
European stock markets have joined a global sell-off over concern about a possible end to US stimulus measures and as data showed slumping business activity across the eurozone, with London coming sharply off five-year highs.
Key numbers:
- London’s FTSE 100 lost 1.62% to 6291.54
- In Frankfurt the DAX 30 lost 1.88% to 7583.57
- In Paris the CAC 40 lost 2.29% to 3624.80
Asia
Asian markets suffered a heavy sell-off following a tumble on Wall Street as traders grow concerned the US Federal Reserve could bring an early end to its huge stimulus program.
Key numbers:
- Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.39% to 11,309.13
- China's Shanghai composite lost 2.97% to 2,325.95
- Hong Kong lost 1.72% to 22,906.67
How we fared yesterday
The sharemarket shed $35 billion in the biggest one-day loss in nine months as the strong surge of 2013 came to an abrupt end.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed at the day's low, down 118.6 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 4980.1, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 115.8 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 4998.6.
All sectors finished lower, contributing to the biggest sell-off since May last year, with energy stocks slumping 4.6 per cent, materials sliding 3.4 per cent and financials falling 2.4 per cent.
BusinessDay with agencies
No comments:
Post a Comment