The Australian share market has opened slightly weaker after the lost of manufacturing jobs and mixed earnings reports impacted investor confidence.
Australian shares did not follow strong leads from Wall Street as investors took their cues from local events, Commsec economist Savanth Sebastian said.
He said underwhelming earnings reports from several companies, including medical device maker Cochlear, combined with Toyota’s decision to join Holden and Ford in withdrawing car production in Australia is hurting the local share market.
“(Toyota’s decision) is having an impact on investor sentiment,” Mr Sebastian said.
“It may curb jobs and activity overall and the slowdown in China is also on investors’ minds.”
During morning trade, Cochlear’s shares fell by $5.54 to $53.35 after it announced an interim net profit drop of 73 per cent to $21.0 million, partly due to cash put aside for a patent dispute.
As of 1015 AEDT, BHP Billiton shed four cents to $36.46, Rio Tinto had lost 52 cents to $66.50 while iron ore miner Fortescue was four cents lower at $5.55.
Among the big banks, the Commonwealth Bank was slightly up by 0.5 cents to $74.855 while Westpac had lost 16 cents to $31.61, ANZ was unchanged at $29.91 and National Australia Bank was down 10 cents to $33.31.
ANZ on Tuesday, announced it had lifted first quarter cash profit by more than 13 per cent to $1.73 billion on the back of growth in home lending and lower bad debts.
In other equities news, David Jones chairman Peter Mason will leave the department store business in the wake of investor anger at controversial share trading by two of the company’s directors.
David Jones shares were down 0.5 cents, to $3.105.
Meanwhile, US stocks edged higher the day before new Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen gives her premier testimony to Congress, with attention focused on how she views recent employment weakness.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 7.71 points at 15,801.79 and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.82 at 1,799.84.
KEY FACTS
* At 1015 AEDT on Tuesday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 14.7 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 5,207.4 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was 13.2 points lower, or 0.25 per cent, at 5,223.3 points.
* The March share price index futures contract lost 11 points at 5,158, with 6,412 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 134 million securities worth $251 million.