CANBERRA: The Australian stock market is edging lower on Monday in choppy trade despite the modest gains on Wall Street Friday. Investors remained cautious ahead of a likely interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this month and on news that China has lowered its economic growth forecast for 2017. In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 5.80 points or 0.10 percent to 5,723.80, off a low of 5,715.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.90 points or 0.10 percent to 5,769.50. Gold miners are also advancing despite lower gold prices Friday. Newcrest Mining is adding more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is rising almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly lower despite an increase in crude oil prices. Santos is losing 1 percent and Oil Search is down more than 1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.2 percent. Banking stocks are also mostly weak. ANZ Banking is down 0.3 percent, Commonwealth Bank is declining 0.2 percent and National Australia Bank is edging down less than 0.1 percent, while Westpac is up 0.3 percent. Navitas’ shares are losing almost 15 percent after the education services provider said it expects earnings to fall by at least A$12 million in the net financial year if the federal government scales back the number of regions it is contracted to teach English to migrants. Insurance Australia Group said it has received more than 20,000 claims in relation to a hailstorm in Sydney in mid-February and expects the cost will be around A$160 million. However, the insurer’s shares are adding more than 1 percent. Meanwhile, Suncorp Group’s shares are down 0.3 percent after the company said it received around 11,000 claims that will cost up to A$170 million.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it had raised questions about the value of Spotless Group’s assets before the company wrote down the value of its goodwill. Shares of the cleaning and catering company are losing more than 2 percent. Crown Resort’s shares are declining almost 1 percent after the casino operator said it will raise A$500 million by buying back 42.9 million of its ordinary shares at Friday’s closing price. In the currency market, the Australian dollar is higher against the U.S. dollar on Monday. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7594, up from US$0.7554 on Friday. On Wall Street, stocks closed slightly higher on Friday following a highly anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that reinforced expectations the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting later this month. The Dow inched up 2.74 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,005.71, the Nasdaq edged up 9.53 points or 0.2 percent to 5,870.75 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.20 points or 0.1 percent to 2,383.12. The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on Friday. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.6 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent. Crude oil prices rose Friday, snapping back from mid-week losses despite data showing the U.S. oil rig count jumped to the highest in 17 months. WTI oil for April ended at $53.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $0.72 cents, or 1.4 percent.
