There is quite a bit of volatility being observed in the Australian markets during the last week, or so and right now, the situation still seems to be the same. Even on Friday morning, the Australian stock market news was all about the dip that the markets had seen during the start of the trading day. However, the situation quickly changed as the pace increased and the shares saw a rise in the coming hours.
The expectation is to see another record-breaking performance being discussed by the end of the day. Thursday saw the market reach 7,368.4 points at closing time and the benchmark ASX 200 saw a value of 7,391 points which was to be discussed as another incredibly positive pace in the Australian stock market news. The value of All Ordinaries which is a much broader index, also saw a similar value at 7,668.
Mining stocks
Perhaps the best Australian stock market news was about the miners with several positive ratings for key names. Evolution Mining, a gold mining company, saw an increase of 6.9%, Nickel Mines saw an increase of 5.1%, and Iluka Resources also enjoyed an increase of 3.5%. Perhaps the biggest negative Australian stock market news was about the gold mining company Silver Lake Resources which saw a drop in value of 10.5%. Northern Resources also faced a similar but milder drop at 5.9%.
However, the biggest Australian stock market news to hit the audience and the market itself has to be Star dropping its merger offer with Crown which led to a drop in Crown’s value by 3%. The deal was set at a value of $12 billion and the reason given by Star for pulling its offer was doubts about Crown being able to hold its casino license for its Melbourne venue. Star also released a statement saying, “Issues raised at Victoria’s Royal Commission into Crown Melbourne have the potential to materially impact the value of Crown, including whether it retains the license to operate its Melbourne casino or the conditions under which its license is retained.”
COVID hit markets
A key issue that is being discussed practically everywhere right now is the government’s plan to disseminate $90 billion into the economy as a support mechanism for Covid-hit markets and industries. A major component of this program was the job keeper windfall which was to support companies that could prove that they would see a drop in their revenue due to Covid. The value of this windfall was set at $12.5 billion and many on the opposition are calling it “the biggest waste of public money in living memory.” The parliamentary budget office performed an analysis on the dissemination of the windfall funds and found that $4.6 billion flowed to companies that saw an increase in their turnover!
This is the complete opposite of the requirement set by the government and yet companies continued to receive the funds despite improving revenues. Some of the names highlighted are the Hale boys’ school located in Perth and retailing company Harvey Norman as well. The term “dividendkeeper” became quite popular in the Australian stock market news as fears quickly arose that the money being received from the windfall was being used by companies to pay bigger dividends to their shareholders.
Currently, the Australian stock market news also saw a fresh call for the dissemination of more funds as new restrictions in South Australia, Victoria, and NSW have led to 14.5 million people going into lockdown. The construction industry in Sydney has also come to a grinding halt. Consumer spending has also fallen since June and July may see even worse figures and experts fear it could affect the economy negatively, to the point that it becomes the most discussed Australian stock market news in recent times.