The local stock market edged lower today after Wall Street reversed course late in its trading session overnight after investors got nervous about the future direction of U.S. fiscal policy. In Australia the market also slipped lower as investors sat on the sidelines for now. Below is a summary of today's trade.
- S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) down 0.3% to 5,856 points
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) down 0.3% to 5,897 points
- AUD/USD down 0.27% to US 75.47 cents
- Iron Ore at US$81.60 a tonne, according to the Metal Bulletin
- Gold up 0.6% to US$1,263 an ounce
- WTI oil futures at US$54.41 a barrel
The big banks lost ground today with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) dropping 1.4% and 1% respectively. Elsewhere, mining heavyweights BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) gave up 0.3% and 1.9% in value respectively.
Two of the market's best performers were JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) and the a2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M), which climbed 4% and 4.6% respectively.
JB Hi-Fi released a strong quarterly trading update today, with same-store sales up 8.2% for its JB Hi-Fi stores, while a2 Milk announced nothing new to the market, but is perhaps the subject of renewed investor interest after baby formula rival Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) announced a Hong Kong-based funds manager had taken a 5.4% stake in the company.
