The ASX200 is currently down 0.8% at 3528, after hitting a low of 3499 earlier this morning. Volume is light today with the US closed tonight for President’s Day.
Ex-dividend weakness in CBA, dissappointing results in Brambles and sharholder resistance to RIO’s deal with Chinalco have weighed on the ASX200. CBA trading down 3.5%, Brambles down 8.6% and RIO off 1.5%. Market heavyweight BHP was also lower, down 1.3% on profit taking as the Market got ahead of itself last week, up 2.6% as opposed to down 5.2% for the Dow.
For the gainers, both Santos and Woodside were trading higher on the back of Nymex Crude up 10% on Friday. Wesfarmers was also higher by 1% after its first half profits rose 46%(in line with expectations).
Paperlinx was in suspension after Nippon Paper said it may buy the Australian paper unit for approx A$600 Million.
The Nikkei225 is down 0.2%, The Kospi composite is flat after erasing early morning loses. However the Hang Seng Index was down more that 1% after HSBC Holdings and Bank of East Asia dragged the Index lower on concerns about the banks’ battered bottom lines.
