Australian Stock Report Market Wrap Up: Local shares recover some ground, but still weak

8 April 2016 - SYDNEY: The Aussie market closed out a bearish week on a negative note, although today's losses were significantly less than they otherwise could have been.

“The move lower consigned the ASX 200 to a third consecutive week of losses, which dropped below 4900 points for the first time in over a month,” said Chris Conway, head of Research at the Australian Stock Report.

He added, “Traders and investors are fatigued at the moment and it’s understandable that people are remaining on the sidelines and willing to take risk off the table.”

Financials did the most damage today, and indeed over the week. ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) and National Australia Bank (NAB) were the worst in show, shedding 1.5% each. Over the week, Westpac (WBC) was the worst performer, down 3.8%.

The heaviest loss for the week was Nine Entertainment (NEC), which slumped by more than a quarter after downgrading earnings.

Conway said, “At this point in time, I don’t think people can see past the fact that the global macroeconomic picture remains uncertain. And whilst those uncertainties persist, we’re not likely to see the ASX 200 push significantly higher.”

Blackmores (BKL), on the other hand, was firmly back in favour, climbing 14.5%. Back to today's action and the miners were split, with BHP Billiton (BHP) losing 1.3%, whilst rival Rio Tinto (RIO) put on 0.7%.

The top performer in the 200 was Evolution Mining (EVN), which added 5.7%, whilst the biggest loser was Iluka (ILU). On the day the Aussie market slipped 26 points (-0.5%) to settle at 4938.

Over the five sessions, the Australian index was off 1.2%.

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