Despite having shown signs of a recovery on Friday where it climbed 35.9 points, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has shed 25 points or 0.5% ahead of a number of important events this week, including the federal government's mid-year economic and fiscal update, the RBA minutes and the US Federal Reserve's meeting.
QBE Insurance (ASX: QBE) has again acted as a drag on the market, down a further 2.3% today, following a disastrous week which saw its shares plunge 31.4%. The big four banks have also failed to provide any relief, with Westpac (ASX: WBC), Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) and NAB (ASX: NAB) all trading in the red, down between 0.4% and 0.7%. ANZ (ASX: ANZ) is the only one to have recognised a gain, trading up 0.5%.
The losses have extended to other blue chips including rivals BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), Westfield Group (ASX: WDC), Woolworths (ASX: WOW) and CSL (ASX: CSL), which are each down between 0.4% and 1.4%.
The biggest loser for the day has been diversified energy group Senex (ASX: SXY). Its shares have plunged 8.2% after AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) advised that it would not engage with Senex's merger proposal.
AWE shareholders rejoiced in the decision, sending shares soaring 6.8%. Other big winners for the day have included UGL (ASX: UGL), Monadelphous (ASX: MND), Boart Longyear (ASX: BLY) and WorleyParsons (ASX: WOR), which are up 8.4%, 7%, 6.6% and 6.2%, respectively.
Foolish takeaway
Whilst the share market has caused investors pain over the last month and a half, we could be in for some relief in the near-future as dividend payments hit shareholders' bank accounts this week, which could lead to a pre-Christmas bounce.
As such, investors may want to take advantage of quality companies trading at discounted prices while they can.
Get the full report on our top dividend stock for 2014 — FREE!
