The Aussie market slipped in afternoon trade largely due to property trusts, which tumbled more than 5%, and financials, which took a nose dive due to credit crisis concerns. It appeared that investors were rattled by a survey showing falling business confidence.
The National Australia Bank's index of overall business conditions shed 7 points in June to 0, the worst monthly outcome since late 2001 and well below last October's record peak of 20.
Confidence fell 5 points to negative 9 in June, the lowest since September 2001. Confidence was lower in most sectors, except for the booming mining industry.
At the bell, the All Ords was down 69.3 at 5022.4, while the ASX/200 was down 69.3 to 4932.9 points on over 1.5 billion shares traded.
Property Trusts slumped a whopping 5.3%, led by another 11% fall in GPT Group. Yesterday, the company cut its guidance for full-year operating income by 26%, citing deteriorating global credit and financial markets.
Elsewhere in the sector, Westfield gave up 2.6%, Stockland was down 7.5%, Goodman Group dove 13% and Mirvac dropped 13.1%.
Banks and Financials were down 2.7% with the big five all losing ground in afternoon trade.
ANZ was the performer of the bunch with a fall of 3.1%. NAB was down 2.7%, Westpac lost 2.4%, CBA and St George both slipped around 1.8%.
Investment banks also lost ground with Macquarie Group down 4.3% and Babcock & Brown lost 6.5%.
Bucking the trend, Allco Finance Group ended the day up 4.3% after being almost 12% higher at lunch.
Materials and Resources let go of morning gains to end the day down 0.9% lower.
Sector heavyweights, BHP Billiton slipped 0.6% and Rio Tinto edged just 0.2% higher. Fortescue was slipped 2.6%.
Gold producers struggled with Newcrest Mining down 2.4%, Sino Gold Mining off 4.7% and Lihir Gold 1.3% lower.
In other news, Murchison Metals fell 6.5% after saying it had abandoned plans to merge with Midwest Corporation after major shareholder Sinosteel said it did not support the transaction. Midwest was flat despite a large number of shares trading hands.
Energy stocks were 1.4% lower with Woodside Petroleum down 2.4%, Santos off 1.3%, while WorleyParsons added 0.2% and Queensland Gas increased 1.7%.
Industrials edged 0.8% lower even though Transurban jumped 3.4%.
The tollroad operator said normalised toll and fee revenue on its key Citylink tollroad in Melbourne rose 9.7% to $94.1 million during the three months to June from a year ago. In Sydney, revenue on the Westlink M7 was up 13% to $43.3 million for the quarter.
On the other hand, Leighton Holdings slipped 0.9% and Macquarie Infrastructure was off 5.6%. Asciano Group dropped almost 20% on fears that the company may have to undertake a rights issue, rather than asset sales, to provide funding for its rail projects
Utilities added 1.7% with a rise of 4.3% for Spark Infrastructure and 6.4% gain for Duet Group.
Consumer Discretionary were up 0.3% on the back of gains from media stocks.
Fairfax added 2.2%, WAN up 2.6% and APN added 2.4%, but News Corp was down 1.7% and Seven dropped 5.1%.
Consumer Staples were up 0.4%. Woolworths ended up 1.5%, while rival Wesfarmers edged 0.1% lower.
Lion Nathan and Foster’s almost cancelled each other out with a gain of 1.8% and fall of 2.1% respectively.
Healthcare stocks were 1.5% lower on a 2.5% drop in CSL. Cochlear added 0.5%.
Around the region, the Nikkei 225 slid 318.1 to 13041.9, the Hang Seng tumbled 747.7 at 21165.4 and the Straits Times Index slipped 51 points at 2883.1. Across the Tasman the NZSE50 was up 39.1 to 3160.6.
Spot gold was trading at US$930 an ounce and the Aussie was buying US$0.9547.
Bill Express throws in the towel
Bill Express has appointed administrators after a subsidiary of Al Othman Group backed off from a proposed recapitalisation of the company. Bill Express subsequently approached its financiers, advisers and suppliers but failed to garner support.
Bill Express shares remained suspended at 4c.
Murchison to block Sinosteel’s hold on Midwest
Murchison Metals said it had abandoned plans to merge with Midwest Corporation after major shareholder Sinosteel said it did not support the transaction. Murchison made it clear that it did not plan to accept the cash offer from Sinosteel for a further 10% stake in Midwest.
At the close, shares in Murchison were down 19c to $2.71. Midwest was unhanged at $6.38.
Allco sells stake in Singapore real estate arm
Allco Finance Group sold part of its Singaporean real estate arm for S$180 million to Frasers Centrepoint. Allco said the proceeds would be used to further reduce its senior debt and provide additional operating liquidity.
Allco gained 2c over the day’s trade to 36.5c.
Tango extends offer for Herald
Tango Mining Pte Ltd has extended its unconditional offer for Herald Resources to 15 July 2008. The consortium also said it was considering its options with regards to the deal.
Shares in Herald Resources gained 1c to $2.94 by the end of the day.
Blue Energy looks to assess Primebroker fallout
Shares in Blue Energy stumbled out of trading halt as the company continued to determine it exposure to fallout from the failure of Primebroker Securities. The company, which offered little in the way of specific answers, saw its shares slump nearly 20%.
Shares in Blue Energy lost 5c to 23c.
Lend Lease to build US Army lodges
Lend Lease said its subsidiary Actus Lend Lease had entered an agreement with the United States Army for the first phase in a project to privatise hotels at military bases. The property developer said it would spend approximately $418 million over five years.
At the bell, Lend Lease was 17c in the red at $9.43.
Avoca starts production at Higginsville
Avoca Resources commenced gold production at its 100% owned Higginsville Gold Project in Western Australia. The project is the first new gold project in WA since 2001 and marks transition for Avoca from developer to producer.
Avoca Resources was 6c stronger to $2.16.
Transurban 4Q Citylink revenue up 9.7%
Transurban Group Limited (TCL) said that normalised toll and fee revenue on its key Citylink tollroad in Melbourne rose 9.7% to $94.1 million during the three months to June from a year ago. In its Sydney portfolio, revenue on the Westlink M7 was up 13% to $43.3 million for the quarter.
At the end of the session, shares in Transurban were 15c heavier to $4.60.
HFA reports positive 4Q investment inflows
HFA Holdings said its wholly owned subsidiaries HFA Asset Management and Lighthouse Investment Partners reported positive investment inflows for the June quarter 2008. The fund manager said total net inflows of $215.87 million for the quarter continued the trend of positive inflows for the year to date.
HFA closed up 2.5c to $1.07.