Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 8/1/13

AFTERNOON REPORT
(5pm AEST)

In a mixed day of trading today, the All Ordinaries (XAO) closed marginally higher, up by 0.2 per cent. The Australian market weighed encouraging news out of the local housing market and stronger than expected Chinese manufacturing data against lacklustre manufacturing data at home and speculation around new taxes in the banking industry.

The Financials Sector (XFJ) dragged the market lower, down by 0.8 per cent amid speculation the government will introduce a levy on banks as insurance in case the industry requires bailouts in future.

After market yesterday, Suncorp Group (SUN) announced it had completed a deal to sell some of its bad loans to Goldman Sachs, realising a loss of $630 million. In the financial update the company said it expected full year profit to be between $480 and $500 million and also indicated a special dividend of 20c per share to be returned to shareholders along with a 30c half yearly dividend. Today its shares fell 2.9 per cent to close at $12.45, however they are still up over 50 per cent for the year.

Transurban Group (TCL) shares rose 2.7 per cent today after the company announced that it had tripled annual profit due to a lift in traffic growth on its Australian roads.

Packaging giant Amcor (AMC) announced a demerger, splitting its business into two units. Up over 5 per cent at one point, shares in the company closed higher by 1.4 per cent.

In economic news today, the RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index indicated dwelling prices in the eight capital cities rose by 1.6 per cent last month. The number of new home sales also showed improvement, up by 3.4 per cent in June.

Official numbers for Chinese manufacturing performance were released today, generally pleasing the market. The Purchasing Managers' Index rose from 50.1 to 50.3 in July, above the 49.9 consensus forecast. The HSBC version of the Purchasing Managers' Index for the same period was unchanged from the flash reading at 47.7.

On the market today 1.8 billion shares changed hands worth $5.1 billion. Overall, 471 stocks were higher, 431 lower and 300 were unchanged.

Ahead tonight: US manufacturing data is released.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]