The Australian share market has closed lower in a choppy session bereft of positive drivers.
In the midst of company reporting season, a heavy full year loss from oil and gas producer Santos dragged on its shares and on broader investor sentiment.
The market tumbled through the day, with a small recovery late in the session unable to push into positive territory.
“We were trading at fairly top-ish levels and there was no real reason to keep the momentum going,” IG market analyst Stan Shamu said.
“We’ve also had a couple of disappointing earnings results – Santos and Medibank in particular.”
Mr Shamu said uncertainty surrounding the Greek debt situation also didn’t help on Friday.
“Caution is warranted, which I think is why we’ve seen the market come off a bit.”
Santos dropped 21 cents, or 2.55 per cent, to $8.03 after posting a $935 million full year loss and freezing its senior executives’ salaries.
Other energy players were also down, with Woodside losing 41 cents at $35.72 and Oil Search nine cents lower at $8.33.
The mining sector was mixed, with Rio Tinto up 11 cents at $63.75, BHP down 20 cents at $32.30 and Fortescue Metals falling six cents to $2.45.
Medibank Private fell nine cents, or 3.52 per cent, to $2.47 after posting a $151.2 million half-year net profit.
The banks struggled, with Commonwealth Bank down 93 cents at $90.21, National Australia Bank down 23 cents at $37.48, ANZ falling 19 cents to $34.81 and Westpac 32 cents weaker at $37.63.
Telstra was flat at $6.61 after chief executive David Thodey resigned.
KEY FACTS
* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 22.7 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 5,881.5.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 24.2 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 5,845.6.
* The March share price index futures contract was down 23 points at 5,845 with 19,705 contracts traded.
* The price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,208.73 per fine ounce, down $US7.41 on Thursday’s price of $US1,216.14.
* National turnover was 1.7 billion securities worth $4.9 billion.
