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Despite strong leads from Wall Street and surprising encouraging July jobs figures, the ASX was subdued by earnings reports from some of its most influential stocks.
Though the unemployment rate rose to 7.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent, total employment increased by almost 115,000 jobs over July — nearly four times what analysts were expecting.
The ASX 200 index opened strong but quickly faltered as investors begin to digest the early days of the COVID-19 annual reporting season. The index ended the day lower by 0.67 per cent at 6091 points, posting its second loss in a row.
The financials sector weighed heavily on the market today, going red for the first time this week. It seems the wider sector finally reacted to Commonwealth Bank’s earnings report from yesterday, with each of our big four shrinking. Commonwealth lost 2.57 per cent, ANZ lost 1.64 per cent, NAB lost 1.48 per cent, and Westpac lost 1.38 per cent.
The materials sector retracted again, but some splotches of green on the red canvas kept the losses at a minimum. Fortescue Metals lost 1.49 per cent and BHP closed grey. Rio Tinto managed to hold on to a 0.11 per cent gain.
It was a mixed day for our gold subsector despite the spot price declining again. Newcrest, Evolution, Saracen, and St Barabara closed green, while Northern Star, Silver Lake, and Ramelius Resources were red.
Biotech giant CSL gave back 1.39 per cent dragged the health care sector down. Cochlear lost 0.92 per cent and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare lost 1.32 per cent.
One of the most interesting movements of the day came from wine specialist Treasury Wine Estates. The Penfolds maker revealed a 22 per cent decline in earnings and a 25 per cent decline in net profit after tax in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems the market was expecting much worse. Treasure Wine closed 12.33 per cent higher and pulled the consumer staples sector into the green.
Overseas, its mostly green for Asian indexes today. As the ASX closes shop, the Asia Dow is up 0.17 per cent, the Nikkei 225 is up 1.83 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.49 per cent. The Hang Seng is grey.
The Aussie dollar is slightly stronger against US currency today but slightly weaker against the Pound sterling. One dollar currently buys 71.67 US cents, 54.81 pence, and 12.52 South African Rand.
Today’s ups and downs
Virtual and augmented reality specialist Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) had a happy day after landing a partnership deal with JMC group to introduce Vection’s tech to DELL’s Software and Peripherals (SnP) global sales program. Under the deal, the companies will work together to distribute Vection’s product suite across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Shares in Vection were up as much as 41 per cent this morning but pared the gains back to 16.67 per cent with shares worth 4.2 cents each.
AGL Energy (ASX:AGL), which is the second-biggest stock on the utility index, tumbled today after a disappointing annual report. The company revealed a 22 per cent hit to full-year profit after tax and said the 2021 financial year will likely be just as tough. AGL shares closed 9.59 per cent lower at $15.36.
