AUD bounces back, but market inks 3rd day of losses: Aus shares close 0.3% lower

The Aussie dollar bounced back and the Australian share market carved out its third day of negativity (selling). At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 20 points lower or 0.3 per cent lower at 6,553 points, with most of the sectors closing lower, after 20 companies across the board went ex-dividend.

From the get-go, we had negative leads to follow after Wall Street kicked off its first day of trade this week in the red, reopening after Labor day. It comes as the US manufacturing sector in the joined the rest of the world and entered contractionary territory. Meanwhile traders and investors came to terms with the new US tariffs on Chinese goods that came in on the 1 September 2019 while China also imposed charges on US soybeans and on US oil on the same day. Plus, in the UK, British PM Boris Johnson lost a major vote.

Futures market

Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 161 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 19 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a rise 66 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a fall of 0.5 per cent or 35 points

Economic news

The Australian economy grew 0.5 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in the June quarter 2019 and 1.4 per cent through the year, according to fresh figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today, both sets of figures were in line with GDP market expectations.

Meantime, the services sector in Australia grew, taking the sector out of contractionary phase, surprising some economists. According to AIG Group, the services sector grew by 7.5 points to 51.4 in August, after a weak month in July.

Company news

Centuria Capital Group (ASX:CNI) shares closed at another new record all-time high today and the company set its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for Thursday, 14 November 2019. the company's results were reported recently and all key metrics were strong. Shares in Centuria Capital Group (ASX:CNI) closed 1.9 per cent lower at $2.19.

Ingenia (ASX:INA) shares continued to also hit new all-time highs, hitting $4.18 earlier today and closing at $3.95.

Oil Search (ASX:OSH) released a statement from the Papua New Guinea Government to say it has now cleared the Papua LNG deal with French oil major Total SA. The billion liquefied natural gas project was facing uncertainty after the new PM came into power. The Papua LNG project is a joint venture between Total, Oil Search and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) has announced an equity raising with a strategic placement of $55.0 million to the leading Chinese battery manufacturer for electric vehicles, Contemporary Amperex Technology. This is together with an institutional placement of $36.5 million to raise approximately $91.5 million in total.

ASIC has commenced proceedings against, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN), in relation to a version of its unfair contract terms for its small business loan contracts. The unfair contract terms are to do with BEN’s Delphi Bank and Rural Bank brands from 2016 and June 2019.

Best and worst performers of the day

The best performing sector was Materials, adding 0.2 per cent while the worst performing sector was Health Care, shedding 1.4 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Metcash (ASX:MTS), rising 3.5 per cent to close at $2.93. Shares in Oil Search (ASX:OSH) and Eclipx Group (ASX:ECX) followed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was CSR (ASX:CSR) dropping 6.6 per cent to close at $3.71. Shares in Emeco Holdings (ASX:EHL) and Bravura Solutions (ASX:BVS) followed lower.

Asian markets

Japan’s Nikkei has gained 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 1.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.1 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,539 an ounce.
Iron ore price is trading 1.6 per cent lower at US$89.14.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.4 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.88 down at US$53.93 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.81 US cents.

Source: Finance News Network