Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon July 9, 2014

Stock market yawning investor — An investor yawns in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province June 19, 2014. China shares had their biggest daily losses in more than seven weeks on Thursday, as the diversion of a sizable amount of capital for initial public offerings continued to weigh on markets. REUTERS/Stringer

An investor yawns in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province June 19, 2014. China shares had their biggest daily losses in more than seven weeks on Thursday, as the diversion of a sizable amount of capital for initial public offerings continued to weigh on markets. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

Evening Report
(17:30 AEST)

Sellers continued to make an impression on the local share market on Wednesday. At the best levels of the day the ASX 200 was down by 10 points; at the lows of the session the index had shed 71 points; at the closing bell the market was down 58 points or a shade over 1%. In broader term the market remains above the 5400 mark at 5452.0. This point is worth keeping in mind. It was only several weeks ago that the market was having a lot of trouble sustaining itself in the area below 5400 for the index.

Education provider Navitas (NVT) loss almost a third of its market value after announcing the termination of one of its main contracts. Macquarie University announced that from 2016 it would end its 18-year agreement with Navitas which would result in the University taking its bridging school in-house. The program which prepares students who have not qualified for tertiary study represents three quarters of the company´s earnings. Navitas´ stock fell $2.18, or 31 per cent, to $4.86.

Boart Longyear (BLY) shares ended down by 3 cents or 15 per cent at 16.5 cents. The group responded to a price query from the ASX highlighting that recent weakness was due to media reports pointing to its strategic review indicating that the mining services group had not been able to refinance its debt and that administration appeared a likely prospect. BLY said that ´´ such speculation is incorrect and that it continues to engage in the strategic review with a number of third parties on a range of potential proposals´´. Additionally BLY highlighted that trading conditions remain weak and that its half-year results could differ materially from current estimates.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose by 1.9% to 94.9 over July consolidating on June's small 0.2% rise, but remaining mired in negative territory for the 4th consecutive month. Confidence is still 7.1% below its year ago level. Sentiment plunged in May following the Federal Budget, and has failed to recover in any meaningful way since then against backdrop of Federal Budget news/issues (mostly negative) continuing to be aired daily in the media. This is almost two months after the Budget's release in mid May. Headline sentiment remains sitting at its lowest levels in
almost three years. As a result consumer related stocks remained under pressure over the course of the day.