Note: Coverage of overnight markets will now be done as “Market Morning” before the Asian markets open. Trading Day will focus on the Asian session and Australian stocks.
Following the fizzle of the ECB bazooka last night, the S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 1% at the open and finally closed 1.2% or 48 points down to 4090.
In after hours trading, the SPI futures have gained 7 points before the European open.
The losses extend to other Asian equity markets, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1.3% to 8446 points, whilst the volatile Hang Seng was down 0.7% to 18290 points. The Shanghai Composite is currently (5pm AEDST) down over 1%, trading at 2167 points.
The AUD slipped slightly today, falling below 1.01 against the USD, whilst WTI crude was steady and is currently trading at $98.61USD a barrel.
Gold also slipped all the way through the Asian session after a big peak on overnight was followed by reality (the new funds are sitting in banks, not inflating the money supply) and is now at $1604, still remaining under its long term trendline. In Australian dollars, the shiny metal fell almost $10 and is at $1593AUD an ounce.
Movers and Shakers
The brief euphoria of yesterday turned into red mist today, as all sectors but telecomms finished down. The biggest loser was utilies down 2.1% with the remainder of losses broadly spread. Kathmandu (KMD), which warned of lower profits due to lacklustre Christmas sales, finished the day down 25% to $1.23 a share.
The banks were mainly sold off, with ANZ down 1.4%, Commonwealth (CBA) steady%, National Australia Bank (NAB) off 0.7% and Westpac (WBC) down just over half a percent.
Macquarie (MQG) was similarly sold off, slipping below $24 per share again whilst more profit was taken on healthcare favourite Cochlear (COH), down 1.4% after Tuesday’s epic rise of over 16%.
Meanwhile, its “twin” CSL also fell 1%, with market darling Telstra (TLS) was up just 0.3%, again on very light volume. In fact volume is down all around as traders go on holidays (not this little black duck).
To the resources, and the ore gods were not happy, as BHP Billiton (BHP) fell back below $35 a share again, down 1.4% whilst its “twin” Rio Tinto (RIO) lost more – 1.7% for the day – dicing with the $60 a share level.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) proved the monkey’s wrong, and fell another 3% after a frenzy yesterday, whilst Fortescue (FMG) was quietly down 1% and to finish out the ASX8, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) was surprisingly bid up just over 1%, but still remains at depressed levels.
Defensive stocks Wesfarmers (WES) and Woolworths (WOW) were equally sold off, probably in response to further weakness in the retail sector (the former owns Bunnings, the latter, DSE, Big W etc) both down around 1%
As for what lies ahead, overnight futures are pointing to lower opens on the US markets, with the Euro markets steady or slightly up.