Australian stocks closed lower.

Today’s scoreboard:

• ASX200: 5,820.70 -17.30 -0.30%
• All Ordinaries: 5,919.70 -17.80 -0.30%
• AUD/USD: 0.7828 +0.0013 +0.17%

Today the local market fell despite a stronger Wall Street where the S&P500 closed 1.5% higher and the Dow Jones was up 1.4% on Friday. Last week the ASX200 fell 4.6% after being battered by selling from Wall Street and hasn’t recovered.

Today the banks led the slide on the ASX with Westpac down 0.7% to $30.14 and the NAB 0.8% to $28.68.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank slipped 2% to close at $11.00 despite announcing a 10.7% jump in cash profit to $225.3 million for the first half. Bad debts were up $6.5 million or 16.3% to $51.8 million.

Aurizon was 1.9% higher at $4.69 after the rail freight company reporting first half profit up by 52% to $281.5 million.

WAM Capital was up 2.1% to $2.42 after the funds manager posted 48% jump in net profit to $87.42 million for the half year.

Top stories:

1. JB Hi-Fi posted record sales for the half year. But the consumer electronics chain wasn’t upping guidance to match the stellar first six months. Its shares dropped 8% to close at $25.86.

2. The new faster and cheaper NBN bundle. NBN is forecasting more than a million Australians will sign up for faster speeds by the middle of this year.

3. Get in now? Spikes in market volatility have traditionally provided a good buying opportunity for US stocks, Credit Suisse says.

4. Who can remember the last slump? Real recession is becoming a distant memory in Australia and that could spell trouble, even in the good times.

5. Where to now with property? Annual house price growth in Sydney is now falling in real terms.

6. Chinese stocks rebound. The gains today are yet again being led by small caps.

7. The Royal Commission opens. Submissions so far made to the Financial Services Royal Commission have been about misconduct including falsifying loan documents, poor financial advice, inappropriate lending, and delaying insurance claims.

8. The Australian dollar is going higher. The Commonwealth Bank’s FX Strategy team.

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