Australian shares started June with a down day here on Friday, but should that will change today after a solid rebound in offshore markets.
The positive global lead from Friday night saw ASX 200 futures rise by 34 points or 0.6% pointing to a gain at the open for the Australian share market later today.
The reconfirmation of the summit between the US and North Korea and a sorting out of leadership concerns in Italy and Spain (the latter went very smoothly) helped settle offshore markets on Friday night.
That was after the ASX 200 index fell 42.4 points on Friday at 5990.4, for a loss of 0.7% for the week.
ANZ shares fell 3.8% for the week after it was revealed the bank could face criminal cartel charges over a $3.2 billion issue in August 2015 that seems to have fallen short, without any disclosure.
ANZ shares fell to $26.81, a month low. CBA shares dipped to US68.70, the lowest they have been since early 2013 and a loss of 1.6% for the week. Shares in Westpac and the NAB also dropped last week. Macquarie shares lost 3.3% to $113.01.
Telstra shares were sold off for a second week in three after credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the telco’s long-term rating from ‘A’ to ‘A-‘. Its shares fell 3% to $2.79.
Metcash shares slumped 21.3% to $2.90 after Drake Supermarkets announced it wouldn’t continue its South Australian relationship with the company past its current agreement, which runs until June 2019.
MYOB shares fell 6.8% last week after the group announced it had scrapped its planned $180 million acquisition of Reckon’s accounting practice management software business because it was taking too long.
Casino group, Star Entertainment shares fell 7.6% after it released a trading update on Monday, which showed softer-than-expected results and higher-than-anticipated capital expenditure for the 2019 financial year.
But Reliance Worldwide shares jumped 23% rose after it announced it had successfully completed an institutional raise of $946 million to fund its acquisition of UK-based John Guest.
iSelect confirmed on Friday that it had received takeover bids from a number of parties after the company’s shares fell heavily on the back of an earnings downgrade. The company said it was “reviewing these approaches and assessing their merit”.The shares doubled for the week to end at 83 cents.
Wesfarmers shares lost just 0.8% after it revealed early in the week the sale of its Homebase disaster in the UK for just one pound – confirming a loss of more than a billion dollars.
