Australia’s share market is again heading lower after a brief reprieve on Thursday, as a rally in major miners runs out of steam.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 15.9 points by midday on Friday, down 0.18 per cent to 8,624.8, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 16.6 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 8,864.7.
Dip buyers stepped in after a post-earnings-season sell-down of the big four banks, which peaked on Wednesday when Commonwealth Bank shares had their worst day on record, falling 10 per cent.
The drop wiped away almost $30 billion of the bank’s market value.
CBA was 2.4 per cent higher at $160.25, while Westpac edged up 0.3 per cent to $35.83, NAB gained 0.3 per cent to $36.52 and ANZ lifted 0.3 per cent to $35.12.
Energy stocks advanced on the back of rising oil prices, as RBC Capital Markets warned against optimism for a timely resolution to the Persian Gulf energy crisis.
“We are very sceptical of a June grand reopening or even that maritime traffic will return to February 27 levels for the foreseeable future,” RBC head of global commodity strategy Helima Croft said.
“The optimistic scenario seems predicated on the tenuous assumption that there is a relatively easy policy lever that can be pulled to get ships moving again through the strait once the economic pain becomes unbearable.”
Woodside, Santos, Ampol and Viva Energy all advanced as Brent oil futures crept above $US107 a barrel, while coal miners also improved and uranium stocks lost ground.
Miners weighed heavily on the bourse, the basic materials sector shedding 2.9 per cent as BHP and Rio Tinto cooled off from their record-breaking runs, tracking with a reversal in copper prices.
Gold miners were a sea of red, as the precious metal tumbled to $US4,612 ($A6,418) an ounce, dragging the All Ordinaries gold sub-sector 2.6 per cent lower.
The retreat followed stronger-than-expected US economic data, which supported the greenback and bond yields, and heightened the likelihood of US interest rate hikes, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.
Utilities also dragged on the bourse, falling more than two per cent after similar slides in AGL and Origin.
ASX-listed IT stocks bounced more than four per cent after falling for most of the month, helped by an almost nine per cent rebound in Xero after Thursday’s earnings miss sparked a sell-off.
Consumer-facing stocks staged modest rebounds of about 0.7 per cent, but both staples and discretionaries remained under pressure as fuel costs, inflation and rising interest rates weigh on confidence.
In company news, retail property group Vicinity Centres edged 0.6 per cent higher after exchanging contracts to buy Western Sydney’s Eastern Creek Quarter precinct for $400 million.
Mineral Resources shares slumped more than seven per cent after managing director Chris Ellison unloaded $112.5 million in stock in an on-market sale.
Penfolds Owner Treasury Wine Estates inched higher after French billionaire Olivier Goudet spent $31 million to up his stake in the winemaker to more than nine per cent.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.87 US cents, down from 72.03 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.