THE Australian share market closed marginally in the red after opportunistic investors looked past increasing tensions throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The benchmark S&P\/ASX200 index was down 10.8 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 4,845.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index eased 11.7 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 4,935.6 points.<\/p>\n
On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was 17 points lower at 4,829 points with about 40,000 contracts traded.<\/p>\n
IG Markets market strategist Ben Potter said the Australian bourse put in a resilient performance.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of concerns washing around the globe yet bargain hunters have been willing to step in and bid the market higher,” Mr Potter said.<\/p>\n
“There’s been a fair bit of de-risking across Asian markets over the last two sessions, so perhaps we were seeing the equity market trying to stabilise.<\/p>\n
“The US played catch-up last night following the Presidents Day holiday, so tonight’s session will be crucial to see if there is much follow-through selling.”<\/p>\n
Worries about increasingly violent unrest in Libya saw key Wall Street indices fall by between 1.4 and 2.7 per cent overnight.<\/p>\n
Mr Potter said many stocks on the Australian bourse had pared back earlier declines by the end of the trading session.<\/p>\n
In the industrials space, Leighton was up 26 cents at $31.15 and Brambles put on eight cents, or 1.14 per cent, to $7.08.<\/p>\n
Woodside Petroleum was down 16 cents at $42.48 and Oil Search was seven cents weaker at $6.94, but Santos was three cents higher at $14.35.<\/p>\n
Among the banks, NAB inched one cent lower to $25.82, Westpac gave up four cents to $23.66, Commonwealth Bank dropped two cents to $53.19 and ANZ fell 15 cents to $24.21.<\/p>\n
Mining giant BHP Billiton closed one cent lower at $46.57 after falling to an earlier low of $46.20, while Rio Tinto eased 14 cents to $84.96.<\/p>\n
Making headlines on Wednesday, severe weather events have contributed to a 39 per cent fall in Suncorp Group’s first half net profit of $223 million.<\/p>\n
The insurer expects the extreme weather will also affect its second half results.<\/p>\n
Suncorp shares were two cents firmer at $8.60.<\/p>\n
AGL Energy plans to ramp up its marketing spend in NSW, saying retail margins in the state are strong, and reported a 30.4 per cent rise in first half net profit.<\/p>\n
Shares in AGL were down 21 cents, or 1.43 per cent, at $14.46.<\/p>\n
Rail and ports operator Asciano posted an 18.7 per cent rise in first half net profit to $93.9 million and says external factors such as weather and weak demand will affect its full year performance.<\/p>\n
Asciano shares were up two cents, or 1.17 per cent, at $1.735.<\/p>\n
In the telco sector, Telstra was up two cents at $2.79 while Singapore Telecommunications inched one cent lower to $2.26.<\/p>\n
Woolworths was down 16 cents at $26.49 while rival Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles, was 18 cents cheaper at $32.97.<\/p>\n
The most traded stock by volume was Empire Oil & Gas, with 420.91 million shares worth $10.3 million changing hands.<\/p>\n
Empire shares jumped 0.3 cents, or 13.64 per cent, to 2.5 cents.<\/p>\n
Overall national turnover was 3.45 billion shares worth $6.7 billion, with 423 stocks up, 755 down and 375 steady.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
See the article here:
\nShares Resilient Amid Mideast Strife<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE Australian share market closed marginally in the red after opportunistic investors looked past increasing tensions throughout the Middle East. The benchmark S&P\/ASX200 index was down 10.8 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 4,845.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index eased 11.7 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 4,935.6 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
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