The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) continued where it left off this morning. After having dropped an agonising 2.3% during Wednesday's session, the local bourse fell by as much as 1.5% earlier in the day but has since managed to regain some respectability.
The index is now hovering 0.5% lower at 5,663 points thanks to a resurgence amongst the Big Four bank stocks. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) all fell heavily this morning in response to National Australia Bank Ltd.'s (ASX: NAB) interim earnings report.
While NAB's cash profit remained flat on the year-ago period, the bank also announced a $5.5 billion rights issue, making it the second bank to raise capital this week (after Westpac did on Monday). The three banks have since recovered from their intraday lows to be trading 0.7%, 0.8% and 0.5% higher respectively, while National Australia Bank's shares remain in a trading halt.
Unfortunately, the nation's largest mining stocks have offered no support to the broader market despite a 3.7% surge in the iron ore price overnight. According to figures from the Metal Bulletin, iron ore is trading above the US$60 a tonne mark for the first time since March at US$60.89 in the latest encouraging sign for investors in the sector.
Nonetheless, BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) has dropped 1% while Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) is down 0.6%. Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has bucked the trend and is trading 1.9% higher.
Indeed, a number of other factors are likely also impacting the market's confidence. To begin with, the ASX is working off a weak lead set by international markets overnight which saw the Dow Jones and NASDAQ indices fall 0.5% and 0.4% respectively, while the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also showed an increase in the nation's unemployment rate.
Meanwhile, investors are likely also still coming to terms with the prospect of no further interest rate cuts which is no doubt clouding their confidence regarding the market's immediate future.
