ASX closes down slightly as banking losses offset broader gains
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished almost flat as a decline in share price for the four biggest banks was partially offset by broader gains.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.04% to end at 8,614.1 despite eight of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The financial sector (-0.7%) finished lower as Commonwealth Bank (-1.1%), Westpac (-0.8%), NAB (-1%) and ANZ (-1.3%) all ticked lower. Insurance group Suncorp (-3.6%) also fell after announcing on Thursday that it faced $350 million in costs following supercell thunderstorms in Queensland and New South Wales.
Staples (+1.3%) was the best performing sector as Woolworths (+3.5%) and Select Harvests (+9.3%) finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- HMC Capital (+9%) – Biggest gainer on the ASX 200 despite there being no company-specific news.
- Temple & Webster (+7.4%) – Partly rebounded from heavy losses earlier in the week after announcing a slowdown in sales growth for the first-half period on Wednesday.
Other news:
- Monash IVF (0%) – The Victorian Department of Health has imposed new obligations on its fertility clinics to improve its processes following an incorrect embryo transfer incident earlier this year.
- PointsBet (-1.7%) – Intends to keep an “open dialogue” with failed takeover suitor and rival bookmaker Betr (-2.3%), which remains a significant shareholder.
- Corporate Travel Management – Scrapped its FY25 guidance after announcing that "material restatements" will be required to reverse nearly GBP80 million ($162 million) in reported revenue between FY23 and FY25. Shares remain suspended from trading.
What’s ahead:
- The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing will release purchasing managers’ index data for November on Sunday at 12:30pm AEDT.
- OPEC+ is set to meet on Sunday.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia will release commodity index data for November on Monday at 4:30pm AEDT.
