Markets Live: ASX modestly higher, healthcare rebounds

NAB has cut its housing price forecasts for Sydney and Melbourne for the second time in four months, citing a 'collapse' in confidence of property professionals in the two largest cities.

The fourth-largest lender said on Wednesday a seven-year low in the confidence of NSW and Victorian property professionals surveyed prompted it to widen the decline it expects this year to 3.7 per cent compared with the 1.8 per cent fall at the time of its last forecast in July, and also predicts a 3 per cent decline in unit prices, more than the 1.7 per cent previously expected.

Reece Group may be facing a protest vote at this month's annual meeting after proxy firm CGI Glass Lewis recommended investors vote against the remuneration report because its chief executive's remuneration is too high and the company hasn't provided enough detail about how it awards short-term executive bonuses.

The recommendation underscores one of the biggest debates in the market: whether proxy firms have too great an influence on the powerful superannuation funds, which often direct fund managers who manage their members' money to follow proxy advisers' recommendations.

Listed fund manager Charter Hall will partner with Western Sydney University to develop a $280 million education and commercial office project at Parramatta in Sydney.

Both WSU and UNSW will be tenants in the 27,000 square metre development at 6 Hassall Street, based around an engineering innovation hub.

The agreement is the first of its kind in the Australian market. Charter Hall's $1.5 billion Direct Office Fund and WSU will take equal stakes to develop and co-invest in the vertical campus.

Nick Lenaghan has the full story here.

The former chief executive of education company Navitas, Rodney Jones, has joined a consortium making a $2 billion bid for the business.

Mr Jones has joined the country's biggest superannuation fund AustralianSuper and private equity firm BGH Capital, led by former TPG operative Ben Gray, in a $5.50 a share cash offer for the company.

The class action against the Commonwealth Bank and Colonial First State has been filed in the Federal Court, with lawyers Slater and Gordon claiming it could exceed $100 million for hundreds of thousands of superannuation members.

The 'Get Your Super Back' action will allege Colonial First State invested the retirement savings of its members with its parent bank, the CBA, where it received uncompetitive bank interest rates.

Australian shares are trading slightly higher following a mixed morning of trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is trading 4.2 points, or 0.1 per cent, higher at 6045.3.

The $US220 billion ($310 billion) rout in shares of Tencent Holdings has entered uncharted territory.

Not only has the Chinese internet giant lost more market value than any other company worldwide this year, its 38 per cent drop from a closing high in January is now the deepest since Tencent's 2004 listing in Hong Kong. The stock has been mired in a downtrend for a record 259 calendar days and on Tuesday matched its longest streak of consecutive losses after falling for an eighth session. It has never fared worse relative to global technology shares.

It's a dramatic reversal for a stock that returned more than 67,000 per cent from its initial public offering through January, by far the best performance among large-cap companies globally during that period. While Tencent's hugely popular online games, WeChat messaging service and budding finance business made it a favourite of both institutional and individual investors, sentiment has soured after the company faced an onslaught of bad news this year.

Read the full story here.

Telstra is facing a showdown with investors over pay for its top executives after influential advisory groups called for shareholders to vote down executive pay arrangements at the struggling telco's annual general meeting next week.

The rebuke over executive pay comes just months after chief executive Andy Penn - who is set to earn $4.5 million this year - unveiled a radical strategy to revive the company's fortunes, including an overhaul of his senior management team, and plans to cut $2.5 billion in costs and 8000 jobs.

The big four banks will repay customers up to $2 billion in 2018/19 leading to a fall in earnings per share across the sector of 4 per cent, according to the latest estimates from analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley's Richard Wiles says he was forced to quadruple his estimates for customer remediation in 2018/19 following a slew of announcements from the major banks ahead of full-year results in November.

Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson backed down on plans to introduce a "simplified" remuneration structure to avoid the investor backlash now facing Telstra, National Australia Bank and other major companies adopting these new pay models.

Company directors and consultants are embracing the latest trend in executive pay, ahead of a fiery AGM season where current and former bank directors are expected to come under fire following the banking royal commission.