ASX falls as A-REITS drag

The news: The Australian sharemarket ended lower, as national GDP figures for the September quarter of 0.3% came in below expectations.

The ASX 200 dropped 0.38% to end at 8,462.6, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red. The worst performing sector was AREITs (-1.71%) as Goodman Group (-2.89%) dragged following a $1.9 billion block trade from China Investment Corporation through Citi, according to media reports.

Analyst reviews:

• GQG (1.91%) — Morgans upgraded its rating on the fund manager from 'hold' to 'add' and played down the impact of its exposure to the troubled Adani Group.
• Pro Medicus (1.76%) — Two co-founders have sold one million shares, which they said was in response to strong approaches from a number of high-quality institutional investors. At the same time, Bell Potter analysts hiked its price target on the stock by 100%.
• WiseTech (1.42%) — Goldman Sachs reiterated its 'buy' rating on the troubled software company following its investor day on Tuesday.
• Collins Foods (-0.24%) — Pared earlier gains as Citi upgraded its rating on the company to ‘buy’ due to growth in KFC Australia.

Other news:

• Bravura Solutions (20.85%) — The financial software provider upgraded its full-year guidance and announced the restart of dividends from February.
• SG Fleet (2.7%) — The company's directors unanimously supported a $1.2 billion takeover bid by Pacific Equity Partners.
• Rio Tinto (0.87%) — Has agreed to bring in Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining as a partner to develop its Winu copper-gold project in Western Australia.
• Westgold (ended flat) — Announced that it has doubled the gold ore reserve at its Bluebird-South Junction mine in Western Australia.
• Perpetual (-0.45%) — Norges Bank, which manages the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, has taken a 5% stake in the investment manager.
• Auckland Airport (trading halt) — Flagged that a 9.71% shareholding worth $1.3 billion, held by Auckland Council, is being sold by the Auckland Future Fund Trustee.