Asian markets generally finished the day – and the calendar year – up slightly, although lower than overnight markets, possibly due to the manufacturing PMI data fro China that indicated a second successive month of contraction.
Australian shares, repeating a meme of the year, actually finished in the red, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing down 0.4% or 14 points to 4056 points, still dicing with its support line around 4050 points::
In after hours trading, the SPI futures have slipped further, down another 10 points after the close, on mixed leads from the European and US futures.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 8429 points, the volatile Hang Seng up similarly to 18472 points and the Shanghai Composite is up almost 1%, currently trading at 2190 points (as at 1630 AEDST).
The AUD was relatively flat today, currently trading at 1.015 against the USD, whilst WTI crude was similar and saw a slight gain to be just under $100 USD a barrel.
Gold rebounded somewhat in the Asian session having been sold off overnight and is currently trading at $1557USD per ounce, still below its 200 DMA, but seemingly finding a bottom on the hourly charts. In Australian dollars, the fall has been greater, with the shiny metal now at $1531 AUD an ounce.
Movers and Shakers
All sectors but – believe it or not – consumer stocks were sold off today, with REIT and healthcare stocks the biggest losers.
The banks all finished in the red, with ANZ down 0.6%, Commonwealth (CBA) down 0.2%, National Australia Bank (NAB) down 0.7% and Westpac (WBC) also down 0.7%, again, all on extremely light volume on the last trading day of the year.
Macquarie (MQG) was down a little as well, whilst healthcare favourite Cochlear (COH) losing three quarters of a percent, its “twin” CSL down another 1%, staying below strong resistance at $32.50 a share:
Telstra (TLS) gave back yesterday’s gains down 0.3%, this time on a fraction of daily average volume.
To the resources, BHP Billiton (BHP) was basically flat, slipping 0.2%, whilst its “twin” Rio Tinto (RIO) finished exactly flat.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) continues to fall, this time only just under 1% remaining below $30 per share.
Fortescue (FMG) was a standout and actually rose – although only 1 cent! And to finish out the ASX8, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) fell over 1% again. By Dog, hasn’t been a good year for resources…
Defensive stocks Wesfarmers (WES) and Woolworths (WOW) were anything but defensive again, the former falling around 0.9% and the latter 0.4%
That’s it for Trading Day (and Market Morning) for 2011, I’ll be looking closer at the “ASX8” and the ASX200 in a Year in Review post after the New Year break, and some indication of where we might be going next…until then, see you in 2012! (my only question is, where are the flying cars?)