The Australian share market has closed lower after the release of worse than expected capital expenditure figures.
Business investment fell 4.4 per cent in the March quarter, a much larger fall than the median market forecast of 2.4 per cent, official figures released on Thursday show.
Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said the disappointing capital expenditure figures had sparked a reversal of earlier gains following strong performances offshore.
“We experienced a surprising fall on the Aussie sharemarket,” Ms Lee said.
“Bad capital expenditure figures had an impact on the market.”
Australian investors continued to be nervous and international markets and commodities prices would drive the local bourse on Friday, she said.
That said, the market did attempt a recovery in mid-afternoon trade, with some analysts saying the poor capital expenditure print could sway the Reserve Bank towards cutting the official interest rate when it meets next week.
Among the big four banks at 1700 AEST, the Commonwealth Bank was down 63 cents at $83.50, ANZ rose 20 cents to $32.72, National Australia Bank lost 12 cents to $33.44, and Westpac was eight cents weaker at $33.12.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was 14 cents weaker at $29.20, Rio Tinto rose 34 cents to $57.65, and iron ore pure play Fortescue Metals added seven cents to $2.43.
Woolworths rose seven cents to $28.01 as the retail giant signed up Telstra to help it offer mobile services direct to its customers.
Telstra was six cents lower at $6.15.
Meanwhile, testing and analytical laboratory services provider ALS dropped 39 cents to $6.10 after it reported a net loss of $174.5 million for the year to March 31, compared to a net profit of $154.4 million in 2013/14.
Accounting software group MYOB shed 12 cents to $3.47 as it bought a New Zealand payroll solutions company for $NZ14 million ($A13.15 million).
KEY FACTS
* At the close on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 12.2 points, or 0.21 per cent, lower at 5,713.1.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 9.6 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 5,714.6, according to preliminary figures.
* The June share price index futures contract was 17 points lower at 5,722, with 23,982 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.13 billion securities worth $5.28 billion.
