The share market has closed sharply lower as investors found little positive news to provide upward drive.
Phillip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the 1.5 per cent fall was a little surprising given markets overseas fell by a lot less overnight.
“Our market is languishing – it’s one step forward, two steps back,” Mr Heffernan said.
“We’ve had more negative news than positive news.”
There remains uncertainty over who will win the US presidential election, US company earnings reports are proving mixed, and there’s nothing much was happening in Europe, he said.
Locally, companies such as Ardent Leisure, Coles-owner Wesfarmers, Crown Resorts and poker machine maker Aristocrat Leisure are facing challenges.
The only stock amongst the top 20 on the local market to finish higher on Wednesday was miner Rio Tinto, which benefited from a lift in the iron ore price. Mr Heffernan said.
The latest inflation figures may have had a slight drag on the big banks, but the impact of the CPI data had been relatively neutral on the wider market, which was weaker before the data was released. he said.
BHP Billiton dropped 35 cents to $22.84, Rio Tinto gained 89 cents to $53.37, and iron ore miner Fortescue Metals added five cents to $5.49.
Commonwealth Bank dropped $1.04 to $74.19, ANZ shed 26 cents to $28.26, Westpac dumped 30 cents to $30.60 and National Australia Bank, which reports its annual earnings on Thursday, was 34 cents weaker at $27.46.
Shares in Dreamworld operator Ardent Leisure continued to tumble in the wake of Tuesday’s fatal accident at the Gold Coast theme park, dropping 35 cents, or 14.9 per cent, to $2.00.
Wesfarmers slumped $2.51, or 5.7 per cent, to $41.45, as Coles’ sales growth eased for a third consecutive quarter amid stiff competition from Woolworths and Aldi.
Ainsworth Game Technology descended 21 cents, or 10.4 per cent, to $1.81 after it reported a slide of almost 30 per cent in its poker machine sales in Australia, and said its half year pre-tax profit will more than halve.
Aristocrat Leisure was 41 cents lower at $15.14 as a gambler launched legal action against Crown and Aristocrat, alleging the Dolphin Treasure poker machine game is rigged.
KEY FACTS:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 83 points, or 1.52 per cent, at 5,359.8 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 81.2 points, or 1.47 per cent, at 5,442.1 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 91 points at 5,332 points, with 45,609 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.7 billion securities traded, worth $6.6 billion.
