A second sea of red

Back to back 100+pt falls as the index followed up yesterday’s stumble with a genuine fall today – the market down just shy of 250pts to fall 3.7% in the 2 sessions. Global growth is the big problem for investors at the moment with more and more data pointing to further softening. It wasn’t that long ago that bad news like this was good for the market as additional rate cuts were priced in, now it seems recession fears are the bigger concern. Overnight business conditions index, the ISM New York came in well below expectations at 42.8 while employment data as also weak – the August number was also revised lower. An unexpected rise in US oil inventories also moved markets sending oil lower again. This contributed to another poor day for energy stocks.

Locally, data is looking a little better but it wasn’t enough to generate any confidence for equity investors. The suite of CommBank PMI figures were in line with expectations – the composite number at 52 was slightly better than forecasts. Trade numbers out near midday weren’t as solid, but also weren’t too far from expectations. Exports fell -3% in August while imports were flat.

Communications was the worst sector – although the bulk of any move in the sector comes from Telstra which fell -3.41% today. Financials were once again the biggest drag on the index, and NAB once again the worst of the big 4. The 7 best performing stocks were all gold names as money moved into risk hedge assets. The risk off sectors did better although it was surprising to see the consumer discretionary names hold up in the face of the broad weakness.

Overall, the ASX 200 lost -146pts today or -2.21% to 6639, Dow Futures are trading up +44pts/+0.17%.

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

BROKER MOVES;

• ANZ Bank Upgraded to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley; PT A$26
• Mayne Pharma Upgraded to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$0.66
  
• NAB Downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT A$25.60
  
• NAB Downgraded to Hold at Bell Potter; PT A$30.20
  
• Nearmap Reinstated at Foster Stockbroking With Buy
  
• Nufarm Downgraded to Hold at Bell Potter; PT A$6.60
  

Major Movers Today

Never miss an update