Markets

The ASX 200 continues to trade near 3-month lows with the index falling for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday. Resources stocks fell hardest with the energy and materials sectors weighed by weaker commodity prices. Banks and travel stocks also closed lower while tech and healthcare were among the winners.

The ASX 200 following further declines on Wall Street overnight. Towards lunch, the ASX 200 is sliding for a fourth consecutive session, down 52 points or 0.9% to 5,770.

Concerns about fresh lockdowns in Europe raised fears about an elongated recovery for the global economy. Shares in industrials fell 3.4% while technology rose 0.8%. Stay-at-home stocks like Apple (up 3%), Microsoft (up 1.1%) and Amazon (up 0.2%) provided some support for the broader S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Congress remained deadlocked on a fresh stimulus package. Healthcare providers fell on uncertainty over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. After being down 942 points at session lows, the Dow Jones index fell by 510 points or 1.8%. The S&P500 index lost 1.2% and the Nasdaq fell by 15 points or 0.1%.

The Aussie market has closed near the lows of the session to start the new trading week as local shares follow Wall Street’s soft lead. Banks, miners and tech stocks were among the major drags while energy and healthcare outperformed.

The Aussie market is extending loss from last week with the ASX 200 down at lunch on Monday. The index is being weighed most by losses for the big banks and miners while healthcare and energy names are bucking the overall soft moves to lift.

Shares in Apple fell 3.2%, Alphabet (Google) lost 2.4%, Amazon lost 1.8% and Microsoft fell 1.2%. The Dow Jones index fell by 245 points or 0.9%. The S&P500 index lost 1.1% and the Nasdaq fell by 117 points or 1.1%. Over the week, the Dow fell 0.03%; S&P 500 fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.6%.

While the Aussie market fell by 0.3% on Friday and slipped for a second day, it did enough on Monday and Wednesday to push the market slightly higher this week. Mining and tech stocks were the best today.

The Australian sharemarket is down slightly on Friday, with equities only just hanging onto gains this week. Gains from miners, tech stocks, energy companies and Macquarie are helping offset most losses elsewhere.

Mega cap tech shares of Amazon.com (-2.3%), Apple (-1.6%) and Microsoft (-1%) all weighed on major indexes. Shares of cloud company Snowflake were down by 10.4% a day after its market debut.

The Australian sharemarket finished at intraday low, wiped out Wednesday’s gains and continued what has been a choppy couple of weeks for local equities. Better employment numbers did little to improve the mood.

The Australian sharemarket is back in the red despite a much better than expected update on jobs. Gains from the banks and energy stocks are helping offset some of the losses.

Retail sales lifted at a slower rate than forecast. And investors concluded that the Federal Reserve would leave rates low for an extended period. Shares in FedEx rose 5.8% after latest earnings beat market forecasts. The Dow Jones index rose by 37 points or 0.1%. The S&P500 index fell by 0.5% and the Nasdaq index fell by 140 points or 1.3%.

The Australian sharemarket rose by 1% and hit a one-week high thanks to gains across all sectors and 80% of stocks. Kogan.com (KGN), Myer (MYR) and Seek (SEK) were three of the strongest performers.

The Aussie market is up 0.8% at lunch thanks to gains across most sectors. While the market has hit a one-week high, this follows four weeks of declines and a 9-week low hit last Friday.

Technology shares lifted with Tesla shares up 7.2%, rising for the fifth day, as anticipation heats up for its “Battery Day” event next week. Netflix shares rose 4.1% and Facebook shares gained 2.4%. Apple shares rose 0.2% following its rollout of a new virtual fitness service and a bundle of all its subscriptions, Apple One. But Citigroup (-6.9%) shares fell on risk management regulatory concerns.

In a rather uneventful session, the ASX 200 slipped 5 points to 5,895 as investors turn their attention to the start of the 2-day US Federal Reserve meeting. Locally, banks were a the major drag while tech and gold stocks shone brightest.

It has been a rather flat start to Tuesday with the Aussie market trading in a narrow range for the first few hours. The ASX 200 is flat as banks weigh against a rebound in technology stocks. The Aussie dollar is performing much better and back above 73 US cents.