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The Australian market has pulled back today amid commentary peppered with concerns of the coronavirus’ potential impact.
On today’s economic calendar, labour data for December 2019 was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While the overall unemployment rate fell 0.1 per cent to 5.1 per cent, the underemployment rate of 8.3 is the same as it was a year ago.
Both part-time and full-time employment increased. The full-time growth rate trailed 0.1 per cent below average while the part-time growth rate was 0.2 per cent above average.
The ASX200 retreated from the all-time high of 7143.5 it reached on Wednesday. Today, the benchmark index lost 0.63 per cent to end the session at 7088 points. Similarly, the All Ords dropped 50 points or 0.69 per cent to 7199.
In a relatively weak session across the boards, information technology and real estate were the strongest performing sectors.
Information technology stocks put on 0.32 per cent. This was helped along by Whisper which gained 8.56 per cent after releasing a positive quarterly cash flow report.
The only other sector to close in the green was real estate which added 0.23 per cent. National Storage REIT (NSR) tacked on 6.31 per cent. This followed confirmation it is in preliminary discussion with Gaw Capital Partners regarding a confidential proposal for all NSR stapled securities.
Industrials was the biggest loser of the day, dropping 1.84 per cent. CIMIC dragged the sector lower, losing 19.87 per cent. This followed the company’s announcement on its plans to withdraw from business in the Middle East due to deteriorating market conditions.
The energy sector also trailed off 1.65 per cent. Woodside Petroleum slumped 1.62 per cent, Santos 1.45 per cent and Origin Energy 1.49 per cent.
Financials also ended the day in the red with mixed results from the big four banks. Westpac lost 0.24 per cent, despite appointing veteran banker John McFarlane as its next chairman. McFarlane will be tasked with implementing the bank’s response plan to the AUSTRAC scandal and appointing a new CEO. On the other hand, Commonwealth and ANZ finished in the green with marginal gains.
Taking a look overseas, Asians markets were in retreat all round amid fears of the coronavirus spreading. The Shanghai Composite is down almost three per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up more than two per cent.
In China, authorities have barred anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million at the centre of the outbreak. The virus, which is being compared to SARS, has so far killed 17 people and infected 571 according to the World Health Organisation.
In commodities, oil is down 1.99 per cent and Brent crude down 1.71 per cent. Gold, however, is up 0.19 per cent with February gold priced at $US1,559.70 per ounce. Silver retreated 0.19 per cent and copper 0.33 per cent.
The Australian dollar is buying 0.68 U.S. cents, 0.61 G.B.P. and 0.61 E.U.R.
