Australia shares end lower as traders shun risk on virus surge

Mainfreight

13/11/2020 05:39

* Vaccine news fails to lift markets as caution weighs
    * Australian, NZ benchmark index notch weekly gains
    * Australian energy stocks post best week since Oct 2015

 (Updates to close)
    By Deepali Saxena
    Nov 13 (Reuters) - Australian stocks closed lower on Friday,
as risk sentiment sagged after major central banks warned that
near-term economic risks remain as coronavirus infections
accelerate, leading to heavy selling in travel and energy
shares.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  dropped 0.2% to close the
trade at 6405.2 points. Still, the benchmark index notched a
weekly gain of 3.5%.
    As the initial euphoria of vaccine news petered out, global
equities were dragged down further after the U.S. Federal
Reserve and European Central Bank said the economy was still in
for a tough time, while the Bank of England said there was still
a long way for drug trials.   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2HY81L  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL9N2ER04X
    "You have not only one, but three heads of the central banks
around the world just commenting on the fact that the economic
picture is still pretty dire at the moment, so that will
definitely have some weight on investor sentiment," said James
Tao, market analyst at CommSec.
    More than 52.45 million people have been reported to be
infected by the novel coronavirus globally and about 1.3 million
have died, according to a Reuters tally.   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AY3AS
    Back home, Australian energy stocks  .AXEJ  fell as much as
2.4% as crude prices declined on near-term fuel demand, while
scaling gains of 14.2% for the week.
    Santos  STO.AX  and Cooper Energy  COE.AX  each lost more
than 2% while Beach Energy  BPT.AX  dropped 3.2% to its worst
session since Oct. 29.
    Travel and tourism stocks also fell, with Flight Centre
Travel Group  FLT.AX , and Corporate Travel Management  CTD.AX 
each dropping more than 1%. 
    Bucking the trend, gold stocks  .AXGD  rallied 4.5% as
bullion prices inched up on economic slowdown concerns. Gold
stocks, however, posted their worst week since the week ended
Sept. 25.  GOL/ 
    In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50 
reversed course to finish 0.2% higher. The benchmark recorded
its best week since the week ended Oct. 9.
    Medical device maker Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp
 FPH.NZ  and logistics firm Mainfreight  MFT.NZ  were the
biggest percentage gainers.

 (Reporting by Deepali Saxena, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Deepali.Saxena@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @deepalisaxenas))
 
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