Australia shares close lower on Wall Street selloff, NSW restrictions

Kiwi Property

24/07/2020 07:38

* CSL drags healthcare sector lower
    * Australia benchmark down 0.2% on weekly basis
    * NZ slips

 (Updates to close)
    By Nikhil Subba
    July 24 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed lower on
Friday, led by tech stocks after Wall Street's tumble overnight
sparked a similar reaction domestically, while indications of a
worsening COVID-19 situation added to the gloom.    
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  settled 1.16% down at 6,024.0,
following a 0.3% gain on Thursday. On a weekly basis, the
benchmark fell about 0.2%.
    Major U.S. indices fell overnight between a little more than
1% to over 2%, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
hinted at plans of another round of stimulus checks for
Americans as early as next month.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nW1N2BC02C
    "Mnuchin's words are cheap and mostly political...the
economy is broken and that means they have to send checks every
month to keep it stable till the elections. That will bankrupt
the United States and USD will collapse," said Mathan
Somasundaram, market portfolio strategist at Blue Ocean
Equities.
    Mnuchin's comments come as U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly
ticked higher last week amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in
the country.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2ET1KN
    Domestic investor sentiment was further frayed after
restrictions were reintroduced in New South Wales on Friday, as
coronavirus infections continue to rise.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2EU8IG
    Technology stocks  .AXIJ  fell 2.1% led by Megaport Ltd
 MP1.AX , down 6.3%, followed by Bravura Solutions Ltd  BVS.AX ,
losing 3.6%
    Drugmaker CSL Ltd  CSL.AX  finished 1.9% down at its lowest
close since May 29 after Morgan Stanley cut price target on its
stock, citing "greater depression" in plasma collections than
anticipated.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EV03X
    The pharmaceutical giant dragged the healthcare index
 .AXHJ  1.6% down to its lowest close since July 14.
    Financial stocks  .AXFJ  fell 1.5% with all the Big Four
banks closing in negative territory.
    The energy index  .AXEJ  fell 1% led by Cooper Energy Ltd
 COE.AX , down 7.2%, followed by Whitehaven Coal  WHC.AX ,
losing 3.6%. 
    In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  fell
0.5% to 11,636.3.
    Top losers were Kiwi Property Group  KPG.NZ , down 3.7%,
followed by Ryman Healthcare  RYM.NZ , losing 2.1%.

 (Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna
Chandra Eluri)
 ((Nikhil.Subba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
 
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