Reporting season fails to impress

THE Australian sharemarket trod water for another day as six more companies reported their earnings.

The ASX 200 index closed 6.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, higher at 6066.1, while the All Ordinaries ended the session up 9 points at 6148.6.

The index hardly moved all week, closing down 5.3 amid the mixed earnings reports.

Three of the four big banks had gains, led by ANZ, which was up 1 per cent, to $26.81. NAB edged 1c lower to $24.22.

“All day we’ve been seeing consumer staples and healthcare underperforming,” Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said.

Domain shares shot up 21 per cent to $2.53, a two-month high, as the real estate listing company’s $156.4 million firsthalf loss was apparently less than investors had expected.

Whitehaven Coal closed down 6.7 per cent to $4.47 after spooking investors with news of lower sales and increased coal production costs.

Other companies reporting earnings were Baby Bunting down 6 per cent; Medibank, which closed 2.9 per cent high- er; health group Healius up 0.3 per cent; and Abacus Property Group down 0.3 per cent.

Ms Lee said that next week three of the ASX’s most-shorted companies would announce earnings: body, hair and skin company BWX, Domino’s Pizza and InvoCare.

“Potentially there could be big moves if their earnings are better than expected,” she said.