Australian Stock Report Market Wrap Up: Bank stocks led local shares lower
Announcement posted by de2 Communications 09 Feb 2016
“The selling was broad-based and indiscriminate as a sea of red lit up the big board,” said Chris Conway, Head of Research at the Australian Stock Report.
According to Conway, bank stocks felt the brunt of the sell-off with Westpac (WBC) the worst of the lot, tumbling 5%. All the others lost more than 4% each.
“If banks were the epicentre, then the oilers were the first wave after oil prices took another hit overnight,” Conway said.
Woodside (WPL) shed 2.5%, whilst Oil Search and Santos (STO) were 2.3% and 5% respectively.
All major sectors lost ground, with significant losses from Telstra, CSL and Woolworths all weighing.
Conway added, “Not helping the global mood was a more than 5% plunge in Japanese shares as the Yen jumped to its highest level since November 2014.”
He added that the only shining light on the day was the gold sub-sector, as traders and investors alike sought refuge in the safe-haven glow of the precious metal.
Evolution Mining (EVN) and Newcrest were was amongst the best performers, jumping 6.4% and 8.3% respectively.
Among the winners in the top 200 - all 14 of them - were gold miners, and Harvey Norman which added 0.9%. Ozforex Group (OFX) was a big percentage gainer, putting on more than 12%, but it was little solace after yesterday's 40% rout.
On the day the ASX 200 lost 143 points (3%), to settle at 4832.
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