End of Day Report – Tuesday 3 September: ASX closes down 7 on quiet trade | Banks up

ASX 200 fell 7 points to close at 8103 (-0.1%). Pre-US trade resuming after the Labor Day holiday. Once again, the banks pushed up, and resources fell down. The Big Bank Basket rose to $245.06 (+1.0%). Other financials did well. MQG was up 1.3% on news that it has sold AirTrunk for $23.5bn. Insurers were solid, too. QBE up 0.8% and SUN better by 1.4%. REITs firmed, GPT up 0.6% with industrials slightly weaker, WOW, COL and WES went ex-dividend, CPU slid 1.0% and QAN down 1.9% on Cathy news of engine issues. Tech pushed on, WTC up 2.4% and XRO up 0.7% with the All -Tech Index up 0.5%. A different story as usual in the resource space, BHP lost 1.7% with RIO falling 1.7% and FMG dropping 2.6%, lithium stocks remain depressed and MIN dived 8.5%. Gold miners were mixed as some bargain hunters stepped in, Energy stocks weakened, WDS down 0.2% and uranium stocks unless pressure again. In corporate news, EML rose 3.6% after completing its sale of Sentenial. On the economic front, the current account deficit widened to $10.7bn in the June quarter – well above forecasts of a shortfall of $5.9bn. GDP due tomorrow, economist are downgrading expectations on BoP numbers. Now 0.2% the number to look for. Asian markets mixed again, Japan off 0.3%, China up 0.2% and HK down 0.4%. 10-year yields around 4.0%

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