CANBERRA: Australian shares turned lower on Thursday morning as opening gains were erased, partly as sentiment was hit when Myer Holdings dived 17 percent after a discounted placement of its shares.
The S&P/ASX 200 index declined 0.5 percent, or 23.96 points, to 5,077.5 by 0319 GMT, giving up gains of more than 1 percent made in early trade. The benchmark edged up 0.1 percent on Wednesday but was still down 3.5 percent for the week, pulling closer to a two-year low of 4,928.3 touched late August. Sentiment remained fragile in large part due to heightened concerns about a hard landing for the Chinese economy, Australia’s top export market.
An early rally, following a positive lead from Wall Street, came to an abrupt halt after shares in department stores operator Myer Holdings tumbled 17 percent to hit a record low. The plunge occurred after Myer came off a trading halt following an A$221 equity raising announcement. “Myer is really weighing and banks are languishing,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped more than 1 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group eased 0.6 percent. Westpac Banking Corp managed to tack on 0.3 percent. Industrial services contractors Transfield Services and Brambles were down 6.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
A stabilisation in iron ore prices around the $55 a tonne .IO62-CNI=SI mark helped mining firms offset the index’s losses with Fortescue Metals up 1.3 percent and Rio Tinto nearly up 1 percent higher.
For more individual stocks activity click on New Zealand’s benchmark NZX50 share index was dragged 0.2 percent lower to 5,574.28. Kathmandu dropped 3.0 percent after it advised its shareholders to reject a takeover offer by Briscoe Group after Briscoe said it would not raise its offer price.
Auckland International Airport rose 0.7 percent, boosted in part by its announcement that a new daily flight by Air China would bring an additional 123,000 seats per year. Xero rose 2.2 percent, tracking a rally in tech stocks in the U.S. and recovering from a drop yesterday.
