A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange ASX in central Sydney August 7, 2013.
A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange in central Sydney August 7, 2013. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • Australian shares are wiping out all of Monday’s modest gains at lunch, with the ASX 200 index down 0.9 per cent. Shares in China slumped by 8 per cent yesterday – making it the worst daily fall in 8 years while Euro stocks fell for the fifth day.
  • China’s government has been taking measures to try halt the share slide in recent weeks, which initially pushed equities in Shanghai up 16 per cent. More than 1400 companies were allowed to pause trade while some bans were introduced to stop larger market players from selling holdings.
  • Atlas Iron (AGO) is adding to Monday’s 70 per cent slump, slipping 2.8 per cent on Tuesday. The WA based miner resumed trade for the first time in close to four months yesterday after raising $86m from the market a week earlier.
  • CSL is up 1.1 per cent after the US food and drug admin said it would review its latest treatment for haemophilia (blood clotting disorder) thanks to promising clinical trials.
  • Weekly consumer confidence rose by 0.6 per cent last week according to a survey. Confidence slumped by 8 per cent recently when concerns about Greece, Iran and China were peaking. Sentiment has rebounded over the past fortnight however.
  • Consumer related stocks are mostly softer, with Harvey Norman (HVN), JB Hi-Fi (JBH) and Billabong (BBG) down as much as 2 per cent.
  • Myer (MYR) is up 0.2 per cent on news the department store owner will cut staff at more than half its 67 stores through a voluntary redundancy program.
  • 980.3m shares have been traded worth $2.1bn. 229 stocks are up and 595 down.

Steven Daghlian - Market Analyst (Author)

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