Aussie share market opens down amid worldwide markets falling overnight

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-21 10:07:07|Editor: Xiang Bo
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SYDNEY, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market started the day down on Monday, as the local bourse heads into the third week of the company reporting season.

At 11:19 a.m. (AEST), the main S&P/ASX200 index was down 28.40 points, or 0.49 percent, to sit at 5,718.70 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was also down 26.00 points, or 0.45 percent, to sit at 5,772.50 points.

The local share market should continue on a flat note Monday, according to chief market strategist at IG, Chris Weston, who told Xinhua that the possibility of shock in some of the companies yet to report, could however, generate some volatility.

"Although with a busy week on the reporting calendar this could, in theory, be the calm before the proverbial storm, although the prospect of another week with the ASX 200 holding the 5,800 to 5,675 range seems elevated." Weston said.

There were some big early movers with retailer Kogan (up 9.96 percent), G8 Education (up 6.97 percent), and IMDEX (up 6.88 percent) all tracking well early on - while others such as GBST Holdings (down 27.16 percent), Bluescope Steel (down 19.14 percent), and telco Vocus (down 17.08 percent) all fared poorly.

In the banking sector, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (down 1.47 percent), Westpac (down 0.62 percent), the ANZ (down 0.73 percent), and the National Australia Bank (down 0.81 percent) all started the day lower.

In mining, BHP (up 0.32 percent), Rio Tinto (up 1.00 percent), Fortescue (up 5.55 percent), and Newcrest (up 0.72 percent) all fared well early on.

The oil and gas majors were mixed with Woodside (down 0.12 percent) struggling, while Oil Search (up 0.63 percent), and Santos (up 1.06 percent) both performed well.

Grocery giant Woolworths (down 0.32 percent) had a rough start, while rivals Wesfarmers (up 0.47 percent) shone in the morning trade.

Telco giant Telstra (down 0.64 percent) continued their slide despite positive results, while airline Qantas (up 0.09 percent) were mostly flat at the open.

One Australian dollar is currently buying 79.26 U.S. cents, while crude oil is trading at 48.56 U.S. dollars per barrel.

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