Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon November 10, 2014

An office worker is reflected in the window of the Australian Securities Exchange building displaying the ASX50 curve for Wednesday in central Sydney August 7, 2013. Australian shares skidded 1.3 percent on Wednesday, its biggest fall in five weeks, hit by sharp falls in miners and financials as regional markets tracked a soft Wall Street lead amid uncertainty about the U.S. Federal Reserve's stimulus programme REUTERS/Daniel Munoz (AUSTRALIA - Tags: BUSINESS)

 Australian shares have kicked off the trading week a little softer; wiping out all of last week's improvements. The ASX 200 index fell by 0.5 per cent or 31pts to 5518.4.

 American markets remained at record highs despite a quiet end to last week. Fewer jobs were created in the US last month while the unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 5.8 per cent.

 Westpac (WBC) traded ex-dividend today and slumped by 3.9 per cent. Australia's third biggest listed company wiped out close to 15pts from the ASX 200. WBC will pay out a 92cps dividend on 19 December and has a 5.2 per cent dividend yield.

 Other major banks were also sold off with both National Australia Bank (NAB) and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) both trading ex-dividend last Friday. This means purchasing shares in any of the major banks will not make you eligible to receive final dividend payments.

 Atlas Iron (AGO) was one of the better performing iron ore producers partly thanks to better than expected Chinese trade numbers on Saturday. AGO surged by 12.7 per cent, Gindalbie (GBG) rose by 8.3 per cent and BC Iron (BCI) gained 3.4 per cent. The larger BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) improved by a less impressive 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.

 Uranium producers were standouts today following Japan's decision to restart its first nuclear reactors in years. Japan started shutting down power plants in late 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami. Paladin Energy (PDN) shares jumped by 12 per cent and Energy Resources (ERA) surged by 9.9 per cent today.

 China's inflation is still no concern with consumer prices up just 1.6 per cent over the year to October while business inflation is non-existent (-2.2% over the past 12 months). Data on retail sales, production and investment will be released on Thursday in China.

 The Australian dollar is firmer against the greenback, buying US$0.867.

 Tonight will be quiet across global markets with a lack of important data scheduled for release. In Europe, the results of a confidence survey will be released at 8.30pm AEDT.

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