Sellers dominate a weak session

The best of the session was seen early with the market opening marginally higher this morning up +10pts at one stage before sellers stepped in and the market grinded lower into the close, down around -40pts from the early highs. Options expiry today so volumes were big and the desk was busy, hence a short afternoon note. The selling was broad based, telco’s hit hardest thanks to a -2.26% decline by Telstra (TLS) which is rare on a down day. We’ve recently written about TLS being less defensive than it once was given lower payout and higher reinvestment of earnings for growth and we certainly saw that play out on the mkt today.

Elsewhere, Gold’s were weak due to strength in the US Dollar however the more diversified miners did ok. RIO and FMG up a touch while BHP closed marginally lower. Iron Ore trading around $US88 /tonne in Asia.

Overall, the ASX 200 lost -32pts today or -0.49% to 6677, Dow Futures are trading down -42pts/-0.16%.

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

BROKER MOVES;

· Monadelphous Upgraded to Buy at UBS; PT A$18.15

· NAB Downgraded to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$30

· Soul Pattinson Upgraded to Hold at Morningstar

· Whitehaven Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT A$3.60

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