Aussie market crawling off mat

THE Australian share market has pulled itself off the canvas and finished slightly higher after a choppy day’s trading and despite the US futures markets looking ominous.

The benchmark S&P/ ASX200 index was up 1.1 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 5665.2 points yesterday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 0.1 point.

The local share market was down by as much as 0.7 per cent with less than an hour’s trading left, but it closed flat due to a late push driven by banking and mining stocks.

But the index is still heading towards its worst month since the global financial crisis as Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said US tech stocks are impacting local indices.

Nasdaq futures were down 1.7 per cent and S&P500 futures were down 1 per cent yesterday afternoon. She said the sentiment has been extended across Asian markets.

The Australian dollar has been hammered as risk sentiment took a knock following the steep losses in US stock futures and weakness in the Chinese yuan. The currency is edging closer to falling under 70.00, which hasn’t been breached since February 2016. The Aussie was buying 70.25 at 4.30pm from 70.74 US cents on Thursday.

The financials and materials sectors pared back late losses to each close 0.4 per cent higher.

ANZ had the least gains of the big four banks, 0.4 per cent higher at $24.91, and Commonwealth Bank recorded the strongest gain, up 0.8 per cent to $65.81.

After tumbling nearly 25 per cent on Thursday following the announcement it will sell its Australian and New Zealand wealth protection and mature businesses, AMP kept falling and closed 4.8 per cent lower at $2.38. Mining giants BHP, up 1.3 per cent to $31.20, and Rio Tinto, 0.9 per cent higher at $74.16, lifted the sector higher for the first time in four sessions.