The possibility of Donald Trump winning the US presidency continues to unnerve investors but bargain-hunters pushed the Australian market to a flat close after a poor start on Thursday.
OptionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said investors were on the seesaw all day on Thursday but following recent falls on the local bourse, some bargain-hunters had “stepped up the plate”.
A stabilisation in the oil price during Asian trade, following falls on world markets ahead of the local session, had also supported energy stocks.
“We’ve got a lot of macro factors to weigh up over the next week,” Mr Le Brun said.
“The prospect of (Republican candidate) Trump winning has sent some shockwaves through markets, reflecting the uncertainty in the US at the moment and therefore the globe.”
Mr Le Brun said the US Federal Reserve’s overnight decision to hold interest rates steady had had limited impact on the Australian market but a rate hike in the US was now very much expected in December.
Meanwhile there would likely be continued uncertainty on markets until the US presidential election on November 8.
“I’m not expecting any significant rallies, and probably the risk is skewed a little more to the downside,” Mr Le Brun said.
Among the major banks, ANZ was 17 cents higher at $27.35. ANZ announced a full-year cash profit that was down 18 per cent due to the cost of restructuring, and signalled there could be more charges to come to further streamline the business.
Mr Le Brun said the ANZ result was okay in investors’ eyes even though the company missed on the cash-profit line.
Commonwealth Bank fell 56 cents to $71.61, National Australia Bank gained three cents to $27.53, and Westpac was off 16 cents at $29.87.
Shares in Fairfax Media dropped 3.5 cents to 77.5 cents after the company warned year-to-date revenue was down six to seven per cent compared to a year earlier – albeit an improvement on previous guidance – and first-half earnings for the Domain real estate business would be weaker.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was 10 cents richer at $22.66, and Rio Tinto lost 26 cents at $53.64.
Among other stocks, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory was up 34 cents at $6.85.
Warrnambool showed a return to profit in its half-year results on Thursday but warned that returns remain vulnerable to variations in milk prices and the Australian dollar’s exchange rate.
Boral dropped 32 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $5.83 after the building materials company said wet weather had hurt earnings for its building products division in the first quarter of trading.
KEY FACTS:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 3.4 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5,225.6 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 4.4 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 5,306.6 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was up nine points at 5,193 points, with 33,953 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.78 million securities traded, worth $5.02 billion.
