The Australian share market has opened lower after falls on overseas markets and some mediocre reports on Chinese manufacturing activity.
Beijing’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and HSBC bank both said on Thursday that China’s PMI for December came in lower than November, which contributed to falls on US and European markets overnight.
Local investors were also taking profits after the strong jump in share prices in the weeks leading up to Christmas, CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.
The market is up more than six per cent since December 12.
“This is a reaction to the fact that we’ve come a long way pretty quickly in reasonably thinly traded markets leading up to the new year,” he told AAP.
All sectors were down on Friday morning, excluding gold stocks.
BHP Billiton had fallen 41 cents to $37.79, Rio Tinto was 50 cents lower at $68.21 and Fortescue Metals had shed 8.5 cents to $5.845.
Gold miners Newcrest was up 11.5 cents at $8.565 and Regis Resources was four cents higher at $3.12.
The banks were lower, with Westpac dropping 24 cents to $32.10, ANZ losing 20.5 cents to $32.015, Commonwealth Bank shedding 40 cents to $77.44 and National Australia Bank was 29 cents lower at $34.54.
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox was up 46 cents at $39.16 after selling its stake in Star China TV.
KEY FACTS
* At 1045 AEDT on Friday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 28.7 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 5,339.2 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 28 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 5,341.8.
* The March share price index futures contract was 38 points lower at 5,305, with 7,880 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 241 million securities worth $300 million.
