Retail Sales Growth Shrugged Off as Traders trek Away from Allusive 6000

Traders continue to trek further away from the allusive 6000 mark, as downward pressure is concentrated to materials and REIT-based stocks. The RBA’s decision on Tuesday to sit idle has sent ripples through to equity market. Sectors which would have benefitted from a lower currency and interest rate are currently being switched out of portfolios.

WOW is again finding support in trading today, one of the rare greens lighting up the screen. After the stock faced a 14% attrition following its interim results, the supermarket giant found buying support for the second time this week.

Crucial retail numbers were released ahead of lunch to provide traders with some afternoon sustenance. Seasonally adjusted growth January retail sales more than doubled that of Decembers returning 0.4%. Continued growth in retail sales is fundamental to the psyche of the market as it reflects consumer sentiment. Retailers such as Harvey Norman, JB Hafiz and Myer all enjoyed an intra-day booster following retail growth numbers.

In afternoon trading, investors were still digesting the day’s data. January’s trade deficit swelled to almost twice that of December coming in at $980M. Imports remained unaffected by the lower dollar and rose a solid 3%, the Australian dollar is sitting back at 0.782 after spiking to intraday high of 0.7841. China’s downward revision of its growth target to a 15 year low of 7%, saw major miners endure further sell-off dragging the local bourse sub-5900 levels.