Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon November 17, 2014

An office worker talks on his phone as he looks the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney June 15, 2012. Asian shares edged up on Friday, and the euro held most of the previous session's gains, as nervous investors took comfort from plans for coordinated action by major central banks to stabilise markets if Sunday's election in Greece results in turmoil. Reuters

 Australian shares finished in the red for the fifth time in six days with the ASX200 Index slipping by 0.8 per cent. The local market slumped by 1.7 per cent last week and US equities finished mixed on Friday.

 The G20 Summit was held over the weekend with leaders agreeing on more than 800 reform measures in between visits to wildlife parks. If implemented global growth is expected to expand by an additional 2.1 per cent or US$2 trillion by 2018. Member countries also announced their intention to help more than 100 million women into the workforce by 2025 and strive to reduce youth unemployment.

 Australia has entered a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China worth more than $18bn with around 85 per cent of exports sold to China at reduced/nil tariffs next year. This is expected to be good news for Australia's manufacturers, farmers, tourism businesses and miners. More than a third of Australia's exports are sold to China each year while around 20 per cent of Australia's exports make their way here from China. Japan surprisingly fell back into a technical recession today following a second month of economic contraction.

 The mining industry was one of the few to have some winners with Fortescue Metals (FMG) up 4.3 per cent and Atlas Iron (AGO) up 7.3 per cent. Larger mining companies like BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) weren't as fortunate and both finished in the red. This adds to the industry's 2 per cent tumble recorded last week.

 Energy stocks started firmer but faded this afternoon with the industry down 0.8 per cent and adding to last week's near 5 per cent tumble. The price of oil is trading around four-year lows due to demand concerns and excess supply.

 Elders (ELD) rose by 5 per cent after posting a $2.98m FY14 profit over the 12 months to September. The agribusiness returned to profitability thanks partly to cutting costs by 10 per cent. ELD managed to reduce debt by 46 per cent over the year.

 Pacific Brands (PBG) rose by 2 per cent after confirming it's in discussions for the potential sale of its Brand Collective shoe business. PBG is the owner of Bonds.

 Telstra (TLS) fell by 0.7 per cent however still remains near 13-year highs.

 Volume was light today with 1.4bn shares traded worth $3.68bn. 403 stocks finished up, 522 fell and 379 were unchanged.

 Tonight, trade numbers will be released in Europe together with a talk by ECB president Mario Draghi. Manufacturing and production statistics will be highlights in the US.

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