Shares in ANZ Bank were the only ones to rise in today’s lite sell-off, which shouldn’t surprise given it is the only one so far wanting to give money back to shareholders.
Weak bank stocks, a big fall in BHP shares and the knock-on effect of the Wall Street sell off saw the ASX close at its lowest level in a month yesterday.
The ASX200 closed 0.5% lower at 7,252.2, a second straight loss.
The close was much better than the 1.1% flop at the opening of Tuesday’s session.
Analysts said the news from the ANZ was a sign APRA was happy with buybacks – as long as they are modest in size.
After rising by more than 1.5%, ANZ shares came back in the afternoon to finish the day up 0.6% at $27.32.
Shares in the Commonwealth Bank eased by a touch – just 0.07% to $97.31. The CBA was expected to be first cab off the rank for a buyback or a bigger dividend than the $1.50 a share interim paid earlier this year.
We will know in around three weeks when the CBA produces its 2020-21 result.
NAB shares eased 0.7% to $25.54 and Westpac shares fell 0.69% to $25.52.
Both are low on the list for buybacks – Westpac because it is still operating with a capital penalty imposed by regulator APRA over money laundering charges from AUSTRAC.
Westpac has also become embroiled in one of the biggest alleged bank frauds for years via a company called Forum Finance.
Media reports last night revealed that Forum Finance’s main bank was the NAB and that a court hearing was told yesterday that the NAB had not willingly co-operated with Westpac in the early stages of the investigation into Forum finance and claims of a $400 million fraud or more.
But the Forum Finance fraud allegations are slowly spreading to capture more and more companies. Hummgroup on Monday revealed it had a $1.5 million “balance sheet exposure” for Forum Finance.
Besides Westpac with $285 million, Societie Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui have another $115 million in leasing finance exposure to Forum Finance.
