Overseas Market Report – U.S. Stocks End Lower as Oil Falls
U.S. stocks finished lower Wednesday as U.S.-traded crude-oil futures dived 4%, their biggest percentage-point drop since Feb. 23, weighing on energy and materials shares.
The biggest loser on the blue-chip average was Nike, which tumbled after delivering a disappointing earnings report.
At the close the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were down 0.5%, 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively.
Morningstar said it will make no change to its US$55 fair value estimate for wide-moat Nike (NKE), as preliminary guidance below its forecast for the next fiscal year is offset by solid gross margins, stronger-than-expected stock buybacks, lower taxes, and further gains in China and Eastern Europe. In the quarter, global revenue increased 8% to break the US$8 billion mark, but would have risen 14% excluding the strong U.S. dollar.
Red Hat (RHT) delivered fourth-quarter results and a fiscal 2017 outlook largely in line with Morningstar's expectations, as enterprises are increasingly turning to Red Hat's flagship Enterprise Linux OS, or RHEL, and some of the firm's newer products to drive an evolving IT landscape. The earnings guidance for 2017, which indicated elevated business investment, sent shares down.
For Australian ADRs listed on the NYSE, BHP Billiton slipped $1.19 (4.47%) to $25.51, ResMed remained flat at $56.35, Telstra Corporation lost 30 cents (1.50%) to $19.64, Spark New Zealand added 10 cents (0.81%) to $11.80 and Westpac declined 46 cents (1.87%) to $24.20.
At 7:45 AM (AEDT), the 10-year Treasury note yield was 1.88% and the 5-year yield was 1.36%.
European markets finished mixed.
Germany's DAX gained 0.3% and the FTSE 100 added 0.1%, while the French CAC 40 finished 0.2% lower.
Asian shares were also mixed.
The Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng were each down 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.4%. India's Sensex remained unchanged.
Australian Market Report- Local Markets Expected To Open Lower
Ahead of the local open, SPI futures were 34 points lower at 5,098.
Wednesday 23 March – close. The Australian market opened sharply lower and traded consistently below the red line throughout the day, with hefty losses among the major miners and banks dragging the market down. All sectors performed negatively, with only consumer staples ending higher. The Australian dollar depreciated against the greenback but gained against other major currencies.
The All Ordinaries lost 26.50 points to 5,204.30 while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 24.30 points to 5,142.30.
In This Issue
Dexus Property Group (DXS)
Dexus Property Group announced that it has secured a number of leasing deals, significantly reducing key leasing risks and improving the lease expiry profile across its Office portfolio. it has leased 98,000sqm of office space since 31 December 2015, including the following key achievements: Securing heads of agreement with Vic Government for a 10 year lease renewal across 22,791sqm at 8 Nicholson Street Melbourne, solving an FY18 leasing risk; Securing heads of agreement with Herald & Weekly Times for a renewal across 10,191sqm at Southgate Complex Melbourne, solving an FY19 leasing risk and securing heads of agreement with Department of Immigration and Border Protection for a renewal at Customs House and Allara House, Finlay Crisp Centre, Canberra across 21,131sqm, solving an FY17 leasing risk. DXS dropped 4 cents to $7.82.
Woodside Petroleum (WPL)
Woodside Petroleum announced that following completion of front-end engineering and design (FEED) work, the Browse JV participants have decided not to progress with the development at this time considering the current economic and market environment. Since FEED entry, it has been focused on delivering targeted cost savings and value enhancements. While significant progress was made to improve project value, this has been offset by an extremely challenging external environment. It intends to leverage the high quality work delivered to date, which includes the involvement of the State Government to agree key principles for domestic gas and supply chain arrangements and the State and Commonwealth Governments to manage maritime boundary changes. WPL fell 24 cents to $27.13.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Troy Resources (TRY), Medusa Mining (MML), Red 5 (RED), OBJ (OBJ), Sino Gas & Energy Holdings (SEH), Ausdrill (ASL), Danakali (DNK), Matrix (MCE), OBJ Limited (OBJ), Tox Free Solutions (TOX), Energia Minerals (EMX), Berkeley Energia (BKY) , Finders Resources (FND), 4DS Memory Ltd (4DS) , Bionomics Ltd (BNO), Resolute Mining (RSG), Avanco Resources (AVB), Rift Valley Resources (RVY), Kilbaran Resources (KNL), Pantoro (PNR)
