ASX slips as property stocks weigh; Star touches record low

The Australian sharemarket edged lower on Friday paring gains earlier in the week that pushed the bourse to set two record highs.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.1 per cent, or 8.1 points to 8436.2 at the closing bell, with seven of the 11 sectors in the red. The All Ordinaries were flat. On a weekly basis, the benchmark notched a 0.5 per cent gain.

The step lower came after the index ended Thursday at a fresh record of 8444.3, having already set a record high earlier in the week on Monday. The benchmark record run on Thursday was led by gains in index heavyweight CSL, which fell back 1 per cent to $282.22 on Friday, dragging the bourse lower.

ASX property stocks were the worst performing, sliding 0,7 per cent. Goodman Group shares dropped 0.8 per cent to $37.91 and Westfield parent Scentre was down 1.1 per cent to $3.68.

The falls come as economists from three Australian banks – ANZ, AMP and Bank of Queensland – push out their forecast for a first cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia to May, from February previously.

Local shares took little direction from Wall Street as the US celebrated the Thanksgiving public holiday. US equity futures drifted higher, with the S&P 500 futures up 0.3 per cent heading into their final session of the week.

Stocks in focus

Web Travel advanced 4.9 per cent to $5.15, capping a 20 per cent jump since Tuesday, when the Webjet spin-off posted an underlying half-year net profit of $52.5 million in its first earnings report as a standalone entity.

Star Entertainment shares briefly slipped 3 per cent to 18¢, a record low for the embattled casino operator following a downgrade to an underperform rating from analysts at Macquarie.

That’s after shares fell 7.1 per cent in yesterday’s session after reporting an earnings loss of $27 million in the first four months of the new financial year as the casino operator continued to scramble to shore up its finances. Shares recovered late on Friday to end the session unchanged at 19.5¢.