Australian Stock Report Market Wrap Up: Aussie shares close flat

Announcement posted by de2 Communications 08 Feb 2016

SYDNEY – 8 February 2016: Despite negative leads from Wall Street on Friday night, the Aussie market managed to scrape together a fairly flat close, thanks in large part to the miners.

“Rio Tinto (RIO) the best performer in the space up 2.1%, whilst BHP Billiton (BHP) added 1.1%. Fortescue (FMG) bucked the trend, slipping 3.4%,” said Chris Conway, Head of Research at Australian Stock Report.

He added that the big banks were the major drags, with all the big four closing in negative territory. ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) was the worst of the lot, down 1.5%. National Australia Bank (NAB) was a close second shedding 1.2%.

Gold stocks continued to shine brightly, enjoying another day in the sun after gold rose more than 1% on Friday night. The sub-sector put on 4%, with Evolution Mining (EVN) the big winner, soaring an impressive 7%, while Newcrest Mining (NCM) added 3.8%.

The biggest loser in the 200 was OzForex (OFX), which plunged 42.1% after suitor Western Union scrapped its bid. On the day the ASX 200 gave less than one point (<0.1%) to settle at 4975.4.

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