Shares in banks were weighing heavily on the market following a weak set of quarterly earnings from ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) this morning. ANZ's stock traded as much as 3.5% lower, after cash profit slipped by 0.3% to A$6,470 million following remediation expenses, record low interest rates and plenty of competition. The Net Interest Margin fell by 8bps over the second half. While ANZ maintained its 80c/share final dividend, it decided to reduce franking from 100% to 70%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp and National Australia Bank all fell between 0.9% and 1.5%.
Energy stocks decline inline with fall in oil prices, with Woodside Petroleum trading down 0.9%, while smaller rival Santos lost 1.7%. The smaller Beach Energy fell as much as 2.1%
Bellamy's (BAL) shares inclined by 1% after an independent report concluded that a takeover by a Chinese group is in shareholders' best interests. This brings the Tasmania based infant formula maker a step closer to being taken over.
Iluka (ILU) shares were up 5.7% as the mineral sands producer is reviewing options for a royalty it owns on BHP's iron ore operations in Western Australia. The royalty earned the group A$41m in H1CY19 and is expected to increase in coming years.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar, sensitive to shifts in broader risk appetite, was up against greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6920 after rising from levels below $0.688 yesterday.
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