CANBERRA: The share market has finished flat after weakness among the big four banks offset strong gains among energy stocks. The market had opened higher thanks to strong leads from the US and with stronger oil prices lifting energy stocks.
But lingering concerns about the banks dampened gains during afternoon trade, optionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said. “There seems to be three factors: the banks have just gone ex-dividend, there’s been bond market volatility which the banks are quite susceptible to and ongoing capital concerns,” he said.
“We’ve seen NAB raise capital and the market is of the belief the other three are going to have to tap investors at some stage to buffer their capital requirements especially if findings from the Murray inquiry are handed down in the short term.”
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank was down 45 cents at $83.11, ANZ had shed 17 cents to $32.05, Westpac had dipped nine cents to $32.56, and National Australia Bank had dropped 15 cents to $33.23. Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum had gained 83 cents to $35.70, and Santos had added 18 cents to $8.09.
BHP Billiton was up one cent at $29.25, its spinoff South32 was six cents lower at $2.31, Rio Tinto had shed 15 cents to $56.75, and Fortescue Metals was one cent lower at $2.11. Luxury fashion retailer Oroton dumped 34 cents, or 13.28 per cent, to $2.22 after cutting its earnings forecast.
On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 closed at a new record following strong earnings from Best Buy and news that CVS Health would acquire senior pharmacy services company Omnicare for $US12.7 billion.
