CANBERRA: Australian shares finished sharply lower, snapping a six-day winning streak, with overnight losses on Wall Street and an earnings disappointment by Apple triggering a round of profit-taking.
Apple shares slumped nearly 7 per cent in after-hours trading as its fourth-quarter revenue forecast fell short of estimates and it missed some targets for iPhone sales. The result added to an already gloomy mood, after Microsoft and Yahoo earnings disappointed.
The local sharemarket traded lower from the opening bell, extending losses during the session, with the benchmark ASX200 tumbling 1.6 per cent to 5614.6 and the broad-based All Ordinaries falling 1.5 per cent to 5603.5.
Second-quarter inflation, at 0.7 per cent, was well within expectations and did not trouble the market. Similarly a speech by Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens also failed to move investors.
“The market has run up 300 points from its lows at the beginning of the month… it was no surprise to see a day coming off,” said Macquarie division director Martin Lakos. “Wall Street came off 1 per cent overnight, commodity prices remain flat, the currency picked up. I don’t think there’s one particular piece of news that I’d put it down to. “The market’s run up, maybe there was some profit taking today.”
Mr Lakos said the confession season had been “pretty benign” so far and investors had been unwilling to commit themselves. “We ran up on very low volume and we’re down on very low volume. There’s not huge conviction in the market one way or another.”
BHP Billiton sank 2 per cent to $26.27 despite smashing its iron ore export guidance for the 2015 financial year and vowing to grow exports of the bulk commodity by 7 per cent over the next 12 months.
The miner had promised to export 250 million tonnes from its Pilbara operations, including tonnes owned by joint venture partners, and went beyond that to ship 256 million tonnes. BHP Billiton spin-off South32 will write down $US1.9 billion of its manganese and coal businesses after suspending capacity at its South African smelter.
Shares in the miner dropped 2.2 per cent to $1.78, well below their listing price of $2.05 in mid-May. Fellow mining giant Rio Tinto also had a bad day slipping 2.2 per cent to $52.18. Among other blue-chip stocks, Telstra slid 1.4 per cent to $6.34.
As for the banks, ANZ lost 1.5 per cent to $32.54, Commonwealth Bank retreated 1.7 per cent to $86.63, National Australia Bank shed 1.4 per cent to $34.28 and Westpac shaved 1.6 per cent to $34.35.
Among gold stocks – which endured a horror day on Monday with $1.5 billion wiped off the sector – Newcrest weakened 1.4 per cent to $11.53 but Regis lifted 1.5 per cent to $1.34. Woolworths dropped 1.6 per cent to $28.30, while Wesfarmers declined 1.3 per cent to $41.68.
Building materials giant Boral enjoyed a 1.4 per cent gain to $6.45 as it upgraded its full-year profit expectations thanks to strong earnings in June and higher than expected property sales.
The company said it expects net profit before significant items for 2014-15 to be in the range of $240 million to $250 million, placing it within analyst expectations.
Wagering operator Tabcorp crumbled 4.2 per cent to $4.77 after news it faces a possible Federal Court trial. An Australian government agency accused the company of failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws.
