Real Estate and banks drag on the market: Aus shares 0.7% lower at noon

The local sharemarket has opened slightly in the red after falls on Wall Street and in Europe on Friday. Real Estate is the worst-performing sector in early trade led by falls for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield which is down over 6 per cent while Dexus has lost 3.5 per cent and Scentre Group has shed 3.3 per cent. Mining stocks are also weighing on the market including Fortescue which has lost 1.6 per cent and Rio Tinto is down half a per cent. Gold miners haven’t been spared with Newcrest shedding 1.5 per cent and Oz Minerals down 0.3 per cent.
The major banks are also down, with ANZ down 0.5 per cent and CBA down 0.7 per cent. All sectors are in the red except for health care and energy. Partly offsetting those falls Is a 1.1pc rise in CSL, a 3.7 per cent gain in Sonic Health care and a 0.5pc rise in Woolworths.

The S&P ASX 200 is 0.7 per cent lower or 39 points down at 5826 futures pointing to a fall of 58 points.

Local economic news

Super funds have now paid out $33.3 billion to members as part of the government’s COVID-19 Superannuation Early Release Scheme.
According to the latest data released by APRA, $340 million was paid out to 46,000 members in the week through September 13.
Meanwhile, economists at the Commonwealth Bank have raised their forecasts for economic growth, and now expect a 2 per cent increase in Australia's gross domestic product in the current quarter.

Company news

OceanaGold (ASX:OGC) has retracted an announcement made regarding mineral resource estimate, production targets and forecast economic information for the Waihi district following discussions with the ASX. Shares in are 5.5 per cent lower at $2.73.

Entertainment company Village Roadshow’s (ASX:VRL) film distribution deal with Warner Bros. will cease at the end of the year after the US entertainment giant decided against renewing its contract.Shares in Village roadshow are trading 0.5 per cent higher at $2.11.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is healthcare gaining 0.7 per cent, while the worst performing sector is REIT losing 1.5 per cent. The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) rising 6.8 per cent to $0.95, followed by shares in News corporation (ASX:NWS) and Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Unibail Rodamco (ASX:URW) dropping 6.8 per cent to $2.61, followed by shares in virgin money uk (ASX:VUK) and Saracen Minerals (ASX:SAR)

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,953 an ounce.
Iron ore price Is 2.1 per cent higher at US$124.90
Iron ore futures are suggesting a fall of 2 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.12 US cents.

Source: Finance News Network