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Australian market off to slow start

Xinhua, January 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Australian market started slowly on Wednesday, as weaker commodity prices and the high Australian dollar made investors weary.

In early Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 33.7 basis points, or 0.59 percent at 5788.7. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 30.8 basis points or 0.54 percent at 5841.4.

"We had a significant rally after the U.S. election and with valuations very full, it seems profit takers were getting a bit trigger happy and looking to take action if the market started to fall," CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner told Xinhua.

"The market has been drifting sideways for a while now, so I'd be weary of predicting any significant bounce in levels today."

BHP Billiton dipped at 1.05 percent, Rio Tinto's share price also dropped at 0.82 percent while Newcrest managed to make some gains at 1.71 percent.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 0.65 percent, the National Australia Bank lost 1.06 percent, Westpac dropped 0.88 percent and ANZ dipped at 1.15 percent.

Santos shares started slow, losing 1.93 percent, Woodside Petroleum added 0.38 percent and Oil Search remained flat at 0.00 percent.

Wesfarmers lost 0.72 percent and Woolworths also edged lower at 0.20 percent.

Qantas shares dropped 0.28 percent and Telstra also fell back at 0.76 percent. Endit