Credit Suisse billion-dollar bailout curbs ASX losses

Here’s your five minute guide to the trading day and how the pundits saw it.

Australia’s stock market managed to recoup some of its losses after falling at the open on Thursday as another banking crisis – this time at global giant Credit Suisse – rattled the global banking sector.

The payment:
After falling more than 2 percent this morning and shedding more than $40 billion from the index, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.5 percent, or 103.4 points, to 6965.5 points, mostly driven by Energy and materials stocks were weighed down.

The lifters:
Liontown Resources was the day’s biggest gainer, up 4.5 percent, followed by gold miner St. Barbara and Auckland International Airport (AIA), up 4.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. Healthcare stocks were the only bright spot in the stock market today, with the sector gaining 1.5 percent.

The Laggards:
Intellectual property services firm IPH was the biggest loser, down 10.6 percent, while Fletcher Building and Coronado Global Resources also lagged, down 7.4 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.

Barring healthcare and communications services (which were up 0.4 percent), every sector of the ASX200 ended lower. Each of the four banks fell, with Commonwealth Bank down 0.1 percent, NAB down 1.7 percent, Westpac down 2.1 percent and ANZ down 2.5 percent.

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The facts:
Recent worries about Swiss investment banking giant Credit Suisse following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last Friday and general uncertainty about rate hikes have kept investors nervous and kept volatility in global markets, said Hamish Tadgell, portfolio manager at SG Hiscock & Company.

“Given the aggressive and coordinated tightening we’ve seen over the past 18 months, it’s not surprising that some things are breaking,” he said.