The S&P/ASX 200 delivered a lacklustre performance on Tuesday. After starting with a gain of 50 points in the first hour,the index then drifted for the rest of the session and got 50 points below the starting point. The index gained slightly at the end of the day to rest 8 points lower at 5313,a decline of 0.16 per cent.
Trading feels very subdued compared to the highly volatile sessions seen in March,but investors have been busy participating in capital raisings.
"It’s a big week when the Aussie market has $5 billion of capital raisings on the table before lunchtime on Tuesday,''said RBC Capital Markets’ head of equities Karen Jorritsma.
"National Australia Bank's chief executive Ross McEwan learned the art of making no one happy with Monday’s $3.5 billion raising where he cut the dividend but still kept it in order to keep the retail register happy,effectively getting the institutional investor’s to help fund it."
QUB raised $500 million and Lendlease also announced plans to raise $1.1 billion.
E.L&C Baillieu's Richard Morrow said''there is always money around for a good investment''like capital raisings,but the money may come from selling other equities or assets.
The best performing sector on Tuesday was consumer discretionary,up 1.7 per cent,followed by a 1.2 per cent gain in information technology.
The consumer stocks were largely driven by a 4.2 per cent gain in pokies maker and online gaming company Aristocrat Leisure to $22.98 after it announced job cuts and halted the interim dividend. The stock is still well down from its pre-lock down price of $37.69.
Info tech's gains were driven by a 2 per cent rise in Afterpay Touch,a 4.6 per cent gain in Technology One,and a 6.6 per cent rise in Bravura Solutions.
Meanwhile,the financial sector ended the session down 0.2 per cent after a strong morning. It was balanced by declines of 3 per cent in National Australia Bank and gains of 1.8 per cent in Westpac after it announced a $2.2 billion impairment,but no capital raising.
The energy sector fell the most,down 1.3 per cent,as oil prices slid again. A US-based exchange traded fund dumped June futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate oil on the market,pushing prices down to $US11.08 per barrel.