PERTH: The Australian sharemarket has pared most of its earlier losses after investors were buoyed by a better-than expected unemployment rate print this morning.
At 12.05pm (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 6 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5116.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 7.4 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 5173.7 points.
The benchmark had initially retreated 0.75 per cent as energy stocks — which had been down nearly 4 per cent — felt the pain of a 3 per cent slump in global oil prices overnight.
But the 11.30am (AEDT) release of jobs data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — which found unemployment in October had sunk to 5.9 per cent against expectations of a repeat of last month’s 6.2 per cent print — saw about 24 points added to the benchmark in the immediate aftermath.
Overnight, oil prices had retreated on fears of a seventh straight weekly increase in US crude inventories while iron ore’s price was steady. Elsewhere, Wall Street’s main bourses were slightly down while European markets were up.
In the equities space, Santos added to the energy sector’s downward momentum after it plunged more than 20 per cent after emerging from a trading halt following a $1.17bn capital raising, which fell just short of its target.
Agribusiness GrainCorp logged a sharp 36 per cent decline in full-year profit as tough crop conditions saw it warn of another challenging year ahead.
Elsewhere, Treasury Wine Estates announced a new CFO while BHP Billiton vowed to set up an emergency fund with miner Vale in the wake of the fatal dam burst at their joint venture in Brazil, while revelations emerged that a state-commissioned report publicly raised concerns about the dam structure two years ago.
Energy stocks slumped 2.95 per cent.
Oil Search slipped 1.39 per cent to $80, Woodside retreated 1.36 per cent to $28.94 and Origin was off 2.51 per cent to $5.04.
