ASX ends lower as Sigma, HMC Capital tumble

The news: The Australian sharemarket ended lower as it experienced large falls from Sigma Healthcare and HMC Capital.

The ASX 200 fell 0.08% to end at 8,151.4, despite seven out of 11 sectors finishing in green.

Biggest movers:

• Sigma Healthcare (-6.67%) — Reported a 36% EBIT growth following the reverse merger with Chemist Warehouse and presented at the Macquarie Sydney conference today.
• HMC Capital (-5.8%) — Flagged that it was getting closer to finding a new tenant for its 11 Healthscope hospitals.
• NextDC (8.29%) — Announced plans to accelerate capital expenditure on the back of new customer contract wins.
• Gold stocks — Gold stocks made up seven out of the top 10 performing ASX 200 companies after spot gold rose as much as 1.6% following a surge in Chinese investors piling into the precious metal, according to Bloomberg. Ramelius Resources (7.25%) and West African Resources (6.58%) were the top performers.

Other news:

• Platinum Asset Management (-6.72%) — Reported the termination of a large institutional mandate of about $958 million.
• SkyCity (-4.79%) — Cut its full-year earnings guidance for the second time in three months due to deteriorating market conditions.
• NIB (-0.15%) — Flagged potential second-half losses at its New Zealand operations and said it is considering strategic options for the nib Travel business.
• Bapcor (1.77%) — Appointed former Orica finance boss Kim Kerr as its new chief financial officer.
• Vicinity Centres (3.8%) — Announced that it is on track to meet its full-year earnings guidance after strong sales during the third quarter.
• Southern Cross Media (6.48%) — Agreed to sell its remaining television licences to Seven West Media (3.57%) and will resume dividends.