Headline indices of the Australian financial market closed slight lower after erasing gains late afternoon on Tuesday, 12 March 2019, as losses in financials overshadowed gains in materials and energy stocks. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 5.37 points, or 0.09%, at 6,174.82 points, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 2.70 points, or 0.04%, at 6,260.57.
Energy stocks were up after oil prices rose following Saudi Arabia declaring it would cut production. Woodside Petroleum was up 0.75%, Beach Energy up three% and Santos was up 1.9%.
Shares of materials were higher, with BHP up 1.07%, Rio Tinto up 1.27%, and South32 up 3%. V Financials closed down after the sector came under further political scrutiny.
The big four banks were all down after NAB interim chief executive Philip Chronican told shareholders that his company had to "focus on earning back trust". ANZ was down 1.2%, NAB was down 0.5%, Westpac was down 0.6% and Commonwealth was down 0.03%.
Shares of Consumer discretionary stocks declined, after an ANZ-Roy Morgan survey indicated consumer confidence "nosedived" last week amid talk Australia had entered a so-called per-capita recession.
CURRENCY: The Australian dollar was up against the U. S. dollar on Tuesday. The Aussie dollar was quoted at 70.68 US cents, up from 70.42 US cents on Monday.
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