An overnight stabilisation of the Australian dollar has seen some support for Australia's major banks and driven the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 32 points or 0.6% today, despite the market opening weaker as China's economic growth figures weighed on investors.
The Aussie dollar has fallen 3% over the last seven days and sunk to US87.9c, raising expectations of offshore selling. However, with the currency stabilising at around US88.3c, the bank shares have risen strongly. National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) is trading 1.1% higher today, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) are all up 0.9%.
While there has been strength amongst the bank stocks, it hasn't been the day for resource investors with losses widespread. Iron ore – a key steelmaking ingredient – has fallen to a fresh six-month low of US$127.30 per tonne, leading to concerns amongst investors that profits could be impacted.
As a result, Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has fallen 4.2% to $5.43 per share, while Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) have lost 1% and 0.3% respectively. Meanwhile, Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) and Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) lost 1.5% and 3.6%, while Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) fell 1.2% after Macquarie and RBC both cut their ratings to underperform.
While there have been mixed performances from the blue chips, here are today's best and worst performers.
Today's best:
- GWA Group Ltd (ASX: GWA) has climbed 7.3% after CIMB raised its target by 16% to $3.50 per share
- Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB) rose by 5%
- Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) shares jumped 5.4%
- G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) climbed 3.5%
Today's worst:
- Forge Group Limited (ASX: FGE) lost 3% with its shares falling back to 98.5c
- Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA) fell by 2.3%
- St. Barbara Limited (ASX: SBM) also dropped 2.3%
