K: Financial and Insurance Services

Mortgage activity falls to three-year low

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 19-Jan-16

CoreLogic RP Data’s Mortgage Index fell to 70.1 in the week to 17 January 2016. The index was at 99.2 a year ago. The New South Wales mortgage index recorded a sharp decline to 90.4, falling 53.2 per cent from a month earlier. A year ago, it stood at 131.6.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RP DATA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIAN FINANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX AFG, FITCH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PROPELL NATIONAL VALUERS PTY LTD, WBP PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD

Brokers say shares will come back

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Original article by Stephen Cauchi, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Jan-16

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has shed 7.9 per cent so far in 2016, closing at 4,892 points on 15 January. However, opinion is divided about the outlook for the local bourse in 2016. Morgan Stanley expects the benchmark index to end the year at 4,800 points, while Macquarie Group has a year-end forecast of 5,900 points. Meanwhile, Shane Oliver of AMP Capital expects the index to end the year at 5,500 points.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, PERPETUAL LIMITED – ASX PPT, MORPHIC ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, DELTEC, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX

Morgan Stanley tips index at 4800

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Original article by Vanessa Desloires
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 15-Jan-16

Morgan Stanley is bearish about the outlook for the Australian sharemarket in 2016, forecasting that the S&P/ASX 200 Index will end the year at 4,800 points. The investment bank expects capital returns to be minus nine per cent in 2016, while it says factors such as the prospect of further interest rate cuts and the economic outlook will weigh on earning per share growth. Meanwhile, Societe Generale’s Albert Edwards expects the S&P 500 to shed 75 per cent in 2016, to 550 points.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED,{SPAC}STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX,{SPAC}CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED,{SPAC}RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA,{SPAC}SOCIETE GENERALE SA,{SPAC}STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX,{SPAC}CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED,{SPAC}UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD,{SPAC}ISELECT LIMITED – ASX ISU,{SPAC}GODFREYS GROUP LIMITED – ASX GFY

Australian Roy Morgan Business Confidence declines further in December

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Jan-16

A Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence fell by 4.2 points to 114.5 in December 2015, following an 0.6 per cent decline in November. The combined drop of 4.8 points (or four per cent) over the last two months is a likely indication that the initial burst of confidence following Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister is beginning to "cool off", although business confidence remains 11.6 per cent above the level prior to his appointment. The drop in business confidence in December was mainly due to deterioration in the outlook for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, which has fallen to its lowest level since August. Despite this poor outlook for Australia over the coming year, businesses still maintain a positive attitude, with 60 per cent agreeing that the next 12 months will be a good time to invest in growing their business, well up on the 51 per cent seen in August.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence falls following rout on Australian share-markets

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Jan-16

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia fell by 1.9 per cent to 114.1 in the week ended 10 January 2016, retracing the 0.8 per cent rise in the previous week. Concerns around China’s economic growth prospects and volatility on global financial markets are likely to have had an impact on consumer confidence. The fall was largely driven by a 9.9 per cent dip in consumers’ views towards their current finances, which recorded the largest fall since March 2012. The sub-index on "economic conditions in the next 12 months" fell a modest 0.3 per cent, whereas "economic conditions in the next five years" rose by 2.6 per cent.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

RBS tells investors to ‘sell everything’

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Original article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 13-Jan-16

Royal Bank of Scotland is extremely bearish about the outlook for global financial markets in 2016, advising investors to offload all holdings except for "quality bonds". The bank has forecast that sharemarkets in the US and Europe could fall by 10-20 per cent, while global bond yields will also decline sharply and the US Federal Reserve may be forced to cut interest rates. Meanwhile, RBS says the price of Brent crude oil could potentially test $US16 per barrel. Originally published in "The Telegraph".

CORPORATES
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC, FTSE 100 INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, BANK OF ENGLAND, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, UBS AG

All sectors in the red, seven ASX stocks rise

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Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 12-Jan-16

Australian resources and financial stocks were heavily sold down in 2015, a trend that has continued in 2016. The financial sector has shed 8.12 per cent in the year to date, while the materials sector is down 9.32 per cent. Defensive stocks such as retailers and telcos have also fallen sharply, although the healthcare sector has shed just 3.84 per cent. JB Hi-Fi, Evolution Mining, Newcrest Mining and Regis Resources are among the few S&P/ASX 200 stocks to be in the black so far in 2016.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, EVOLUTION MARKETS LLC, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL, AUSTRALIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED – ASX API, PRIMARY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX PRY, RESMED INCORPORATED – ASX RMD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED

China panic sparks share-selling frenzy

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Original article by Stephen Cauchi
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 8-Jan-16

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on 7 January 2016, with the S&P/ASX 200 shedding 2.2 per cent to close at 5,010.3. The bearish sentiment was prompted by factors such as lower-than-expected building approvals data, further moves by China to devalue the yuan and the Brent crude oil price’s fall to an 11-year low. The Commonwealth Bank was 2.1 per cent lower at $A80.41 and BHP Billiton eased 4.8 per cent to end the session at $A16.33. Santos was down 7.4 per cent at $A3.25 and Telstra fell by 1.5 per cent to finish at $A5.32.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, SPOTLESS GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SPO, RUSSELL INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX ALL ORDINARIES INDEX, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, STRAITS TIMES INDEX, CSI 300 INDEX

Biotech index outperformance in 2015 points to opportunities

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Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 8-Jan-16

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index shed 2.7 per cent during 2015. However, an index of 40 biotechnology companies which was compiled by "Biotech Daily" gained 22 per cent. ImpediMed, Opthea, Nanosonics, Starpharma and Mesoblast are among the biotechnology stocks that could potentially perform well in 2016.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, BIOTECH DAILY, IMPEDIMED LIMITED – ASX IPD, OPTHEA LIMITED – ASX OPT, NANOSONICS LIMITED – ASX NAN, STARPHARMA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SPL, MESOBLAST LIMITED – ASX MSB, HATCHTECH PTY LTD, SPINIFEX PHARMACEUTICALS PTY LTD, FIBROTECH THERAPEUTICS PTY LTD, QRXPHARMA LIMITED – ASX QRX, OSPREY MEDICAL INCORPORATED – ASX OSP, GI DYNAMICS INCORPORATED – ASX GID, CANACCORD GENUITY (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, RESMED INCORPORATED – ASX RMD

ASX loses $50b in new year rout

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Original article by Mark Mulligan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Jan-16

A move by the People’s Bank of China to devalue the renminbi by 0.22 per cent weighed on the Australian sharemarket on 6 January 2016. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by around 1.2 per cent. It has now shed 3.3 per cent in the year to date, reducing the local sharemarket’s capitalisation by $A50bn. Global investor sentiment in 2016 has also been hit by factors such as concerns about the economic outlook for China, weak commodity prices and North Korea’s detonation of a hydrogen bomb.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, PEAK ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, HSBC BANK PLC, SOCIETE GENERALE, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, BLOOMBERG LP