Australia: Stocks closed mixed

Headline indices of the Australia market closed slight lower on Friday, 19 October 2018, after trimming early losses triggered by tracking soft lead from Wall Street overnight on worries over the diplomatic fallout from the disappearance of a Saudi journalist and other global concerns. Among ASX issues, consumer discretionary, technology, and healthcare issues were notable losers, while financials and property trusts were notable gainers. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 2.92 points, or 0.05%, at 5,939.49 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index shed 7.33 points, or 0.12%, to 6,042.75 points.

Shares of materials and resources companies were lower, following an overnight dip for several industrial metals. Sector giants BHP and Rio Tinto were down 0.3 and 1.7% respectively, and Fortescue Metals and South32 were both more than 2% lower.

 

Shares of most Australian banks and financials saw gains, with the exception of National Australia Bank, which saw a decline of 0.3%. NAB's CEO Andrew Thorburn had earlier announced that about 300 of its staff had been fired or left the company following internal investigations into wrongdoing. Commonwealth Bank had the strongest gains of the big four, up 1% to $67.92.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was higher against greenback and other major currencies on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7106, following a decline from levels above 0.714 overnight.

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