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Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Markets / Mining Industry / Banking

Share market closes flat as energy gains offset by banking, mining losses

Wednesday, 8 Jun 2016 15:57:49 | Elysse Morgan

Investors watch the boards at the Australian Stock Exchange after it opened down this morning, in Sydney in September, 2008. (AAP: Dean Lewins, file photo)

The share market has ended the day flat after strong gains in the energy sector were offset by losses elsewhere.

The ASX 200 closed one point lower at 5,370 and the All Ordinaries finished where it started at 5,441.

A spike in the oil price overnight sent oil and gas-focused firms higher, with Santos the best performer among the big names, rising 2.6 per cent.

Oil Search rose 1.95 per cent while Woodside gained 1 per cent.

Another company, Liquefied Natural Gas, continued its puzzlingly meteoric rise.

It was up 25 per cent today and closed at $1.03, taking its total gains for the week to 76 per cent.

The company has released a statement saying it has no idea what is pushing the stock up.

Meanwhile, investors sold down bank stocks on the back of concerns the Reserve Bank might not cut rates again this year.

The concerns were sparked by the relatively upbeat commentary that accompanied the RBA's decision yesterday to leave the cash rate on hold.

As a result, the financial sector was among the worst performers. NAB, ANZ, Commonwealth were all down about half a per cent.

NAB was in the headlines for becoming the next Australian bank to be taken to court by ASIC over its role in alleged rate rigging, reigniting calls in Canberra for a royal commission into banking.

Australian dollar continues strong trade

The big miners were also down today, with BHP losing 1.2 per cent and Rio Tinto dropping 1.9 per cent.

On the economics front, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed home lending dropped off in April by nearly 2 per cent, but there was an almost equal jump in owner-occupier lending.

Some have suggested this means the banks are reclassifying loans to avoid bank restrictions on investor lending.

The Australian dollar has continued its strong trade, holding the gains from yesterday. It is now worth 94.4 US cents.

In commodities, West Texas Crude was sitting at $US50.32 a barrel, up about $US1 on yesterday.

Iron ore continued to rise and was at $US52.30 a tonne, while gold also rose to trade at $US1,250 an ounce.

AustraliaPlus


 

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