The Australian market has fallen as it digests a flurry of company results.
The drop follows Wall Street and European market declines after data showed that investor sentiment in Germany had fallen for the eighth straight month to its lowest level since December 2012.
A record profit result by Australia’s biggest lender, the Commonwealth Bank, wasn’t enough to stop the local market falling.
The Commonwealth posted a $8.68 billion full year cash profit but its shares had fallen 71 cents to $80.98 by 1200 AEST.
Patersons Brisbane economist Tony Farnham predicted there’d be little improvement unless Chinese retail sales and factory figures were better than expected later in the day.
“If they were one or two percentage points above, it certainly will give reason enough to get a little bit cheery in the immediate aftermath of the numbers coming out,” he said.
“It’s certainly one of the things people will be looking towards now that we’ve done our dash for the day with profit numbers.”
The local company losses were broad ranging at noon.
Most of the big banks were down with NAB falling 12.5 cents to $34.275 and ANZ down 20 cents to $32.68.
Westpac bucked the trend, up 10 cents to $33.68.
Suncorp was up 41 cents, or 2.9 per cent, at $14.53, after saying its profit had lifted almost 49 per cent.
The major resource stocks were all in negative territory.
BHP Billiton was down 21.5 cents at $38.365, Rio had lost $1.57, or 2.31 per cent, to $66.25 and Fortescue had fallen four cents to $4.59.
In other company news, OZ Minerals recorded a $7.4 million half year loss. Its shares were down 13 cents, or 2.9 per cent, at $4.35.
Blood products and vaccine giant CSL lifted its full year profit 7.8 per cent. Its shares were $1.92, or 2.93 per cent, higher at $67.47.
Breads and spreads company Goodman Fielder was down 0.25 cents to $63.75 after announcing a full year loss of $405.1 million.
KEY FACTS
* At 1200 AEST on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 20.6 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 5,509.7.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 19.7 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 5,503.4.
* The September share price index futures contract was down 14 points at 5,456 with 15,447 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 927.1 million shares worth $2 billion.
