The big banks were a deadweight for the ASX last week and that won’t change this week with NAB and the ANZ holding what will turn out to be contentious annual meetings on Wednesday.
The ASX 200 Index shed 79.5 points, or 1.4% last week at 5602 while the All Ordinaries lost 79.1 points, or 1.4%, to 5678.8.
With two weeks to go in 2018, the ASX 200 is down more than 7% for the year while America’s S&P 500 is down 0.8%.
The big four banks hit the index this week, led by Westpac which shed 3.3% to $24.88 which pushed the shares well into bear territory with a loss of more than 20% for the year to date.
Westpac has taken the biggest hit to its share price among the big four banks this year.
Westpac’s 2018 annual meeting saw shareholders deliver a telling blow against the board and managers with a 64% plus no vote against the bank’s remuneration report. A no vote next year and the board get’s spilled.
Commonwealth Bank shares fell 2.2% and for the year to date, are down more than 14%. ANZ lost 3.5% last week to end on $24.80 and are down 13.7% so far in 2018 and the NAB shed 1.3% to $23.69 but the shares are off close to 20% for the year to date and will be under pressure at Wednesday’s meeting.
AMP shares ended steady on $2.33, but the shares have more than halved in value, losing 55% so far in 2018.
Other financial were weaker QBE Insurance shares lost 5% to $10.14, Suncorp Group slid 2.2% to $13.02 and Insurance Australian Group slipped 2.2% also fell to $6.96.
Bank of Queensland abandoned the sale of its St Andrews insurance arm to the struggling Freedom Insurance Group. BoQ shares fell 1.8% last week to $9.56, but the shares are down more than 24% so far this year.
The ACCC sent shivers through the telco sectors by suggesting it might block or force big changes on the proposed $15 million merger between TPG and Vodafone.
TPG Telecom shares slumped 14.5% to $6.30 and Vodafone Hutchison Australia owner Hutchison Telecommunications closed flat this week to 12.5 cents. Telstra shares slid 6.8% to $2.87 on fears the bid being blocked will see a step up in competitive pressures in mobile next year and beyond as the NBN hurts the sector.
The major resource stocks closed higher this week as the prices of oil and iron ore struggled higher. BHP shares were up 3.9% to $32.40, Rio Tinto climbed 3.1% to $74.57 and South32 advanced 6.1% to $3.28. Whitehaven Coal shares jumped almost 7% to $4.64. Fortescue shares were up 1.2% last week but lost more than 2% on Friday.
Sigma Healthcare shares rose 27.5 percent 58 cents (and more than 43% on Friday) after it revealed it had received a takeover offer (indicative) from rival pharmacy group, API.
API also increased its stake in the company by 8% and now holds 12.95 percent of shares in Sigma. API’s shares closed the week 7.8% higher at $1.60. Sigma shares are well under the 68 cents indicated price from API, meaning investors are not confident the deal will happen after the competition regulator, the ACCC knocked back a similar merger deal in 2002.
