The share market is weaker as disappointing Chinese manufacturing news weighs down resources stocks and Westpac’s full year profit rise leaves investors underwhelmed.
A drop in China’s Purchasing Managers Index for October stirred concerns about the economy of Australia’s largest trading partner, hitting BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, Lonsec senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said.
“It’s almost a monte that you’re going to find BHP and Rio are down as a knee-jerk reaction to disappointing Chinese news,” he said.
BHP Billiton lost 25 cents to $33.71, Rio Tinto shed 39 cents to $60.02 and Fortescue Metals was 12 cents weaker at $3.38.
Gold miner Newcrest dropped 77 cents to $8.55.
Westpac was one cent lower at $34.77 after lifting its full year cash profit by eight per cent to $7.63 billion.
But the disappointing result didn’t dent the other major banking stocks.
“It looks like it’s one that’s peculiar to Westpac,” Mr Heffernan said.
ANZ was up 11 cents at $33.61, National Australia Bank had added seven cents to $35.06, while Commonwealth Bank had lifted 27 cents to $80.75.
Woolworths lost $1.57 cents to $34.43 after the supermarket giant expressed disappointment in its quarterly sales figures.
“They were a bit disappointed it was bit below what they expected. That’s like red rag to a bull as far as the market’s concerned,” Mr Heffernan said.
Ten Network added a quarter of a cent to 22.25 cents after billionaire Gina Rinehart quit the TV broadcaster’s board.
KEY FACTS
* At 1200 AEDT on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 4.5 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 5,522.1 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 3.6 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5,501.4 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 12 points at 5,506.0 points, with 13,403 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 544.5 million securities worth $1.3 billion.