The Aussie dollar closed around USD 61.9 cents at US market close. Gold futures fell by 1.7 per cent;global oil prices dropped 4 per cent;and base metal prices fell around 3 per cent,led by nickel. Zinc prices rose by 1 per cent.
Looking ahead for the week,investors will be waiting for September’s labour force statistics to be released on Thursday to indicate whether the Reserve Bank’s more dovish approach to inflation is working. Morgan Stanley expects employment growth to have slowed for the month,but remain in positive territory.
“We expect the participation rate to hold at a strong 66.6 per cent,which could see the unemployment rate tick back down to its recent low of 3.4 per cent,” an analyst from the investment management firm said.
Tribeca Investment Partners portfolio manager Jun Bei Liu said she expected the market to normalise once global stock markets had digested the higher than expected US consumer price index data released last week.
“The AGM season has just started,and while it won’t affect the market overall,these will definitely drive the individual stock prices. It’s a very important gauge for what our corporates and investors are feeling,” she said.
In other news,health insurer Medibank was down 3.41 per cent after reporting a ransomware attack last week. The company said on Monday that there was no evidence of customer data being taken,but added it will continue to investigate the security breach.
Loading
“Our ongoing investigation has found the unusual activity we detected in part of our IT network was consistent with a possible ransomware threat. Ransomware is a common and dangerous type of malicious software that works by locking up or encrypting files,so they are no longer accessible,” Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said.
More worries about inflation have helped spur a broad slide for stocks,which left most of the major indexes on Wall Street in the red last week.
The S&P 500 fell 2.4 per cent last Friday after having been up as much as 1.2 per cent in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3 per cent and the Nasdaq composite ended 3.1 per cent lower. Both indexes also turned lower after marching higher in early trading.
In addition to the suspension,the company will have to pay a $100 million fine,and operate under an independent manager.
With Amelia McGuire,AP
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading.Get it each weekday afternoon.