US oil and gas stocks were the best performers on Wall Street in 2016 with a jump of 24%. This year they are the worst with the sector down more than 16% as oil prices wander lower – helped in the last few days by the impact of Hurricane Harvey which has shut so much oil and and gas refineries and other plant in and around Houston that US refining capacity is at a seven year low.
Energy prices still maintain their hold in US markets, thanks to Harvey, while geopolitical concerns based on North Korea and the increasingly erratic performance of President Trump have also been big negatives.
In Australia the reporting season ended with the ASX 200 index down a handful of points – not the most positive reception for the June 30 reporting season. The ASX 200 ended the month with a solid 45 point gain which trimmed the losses to six points.
Twice the ASX 200 flirted with going negative for the year in the last week of the month and at one stage was in the red by a couple of points.
Wall Street all ended in the green on the last day of August and the S&P 500 had its fifth positive month in a row – but the gains were all tiny – less than 1%.
The Dow closed up 0.3% at 21,952. For the month, the Dow was up 0.3%, representing its fifth monthly gain in a row. The S&P 500 index ended the session with a 0.6% gain, helping it to wrap up August with a gain of a little less than 0.1%. t has been in the red in early trading.
The index is also scored its fifth monthly rise in a row. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished about 1% higher at 6,428, and produced a monthly rise of 1.3%.
Iron ore ended the month with a sharp gain that saw the Chinese index price jump past $US78 a tonne again to end at $US78.91 – up $US2.83 on the day. For the month the price was up more than $US5 a tonne, or around 7% – sharply slower than the 20% gain in July.
Gold prices were up 4% an ounce as prices rose beyond the $US1,300 an ounce mark in the New York to end at an 11 month high.
December gold added $US8.10, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,322.20 an ounce, for its highest settlement since September 29, according to US data group, FactSet. For the month, the 4% gain was the largest monthly gain since January, according to FactSet.
In other metals trade, December silver rose 7.2 cents, or 0.4%, to $US17.575 an ounce, while December copper added 1.2 cents, or 0.4%, to $US3.099 a pound and was up more than 7% in the month and the highest settlement since December, 2015.
In Australia the local market looks like starting the new month with a small gain of around seven points.
Thursday’s 45 point rise, or 0.8, in the ASX 200 index to 5715 managed to trim the month’s losses to only 6 points.
Telstra’s 10.5% share price plunge over the month, more or less what it lost on the day it announced a hefty cut to its dividend, and CBA’s 9% fall amid ramping regulatory pressure around its money laundering debacles dragged the market lower.
QBE shares fell more than 13%, IAG shares lost nearly 5%, CSL shares fell 3%, ANZ shares were down 1.2% and Westpac shares fell 2.5%. NAB shares actually saw a small gain of 0.4%.
The Reject Shop saw its shares fall 12%, But these and other losses were offset by strong monthly gains from the major miners BHP (2.8%), Rio Tinto (1.1%) and Newcrest Mining (over 12%), while Wesfarmers (4.2%) and Woolies (nearly 8%) also supported the market.
