The Australian equity market was once again in sell-off mood today, which is largely being driven by its own success.
Just a week ago, the ASX All Ordinaries climbed 10% over 30 days, a bit of a rush.
Investors this week have been taking some money off the table, with the benchmark index falling 0.8% to 5353.
But it wasn't all down hill ....
.... MARKET ACTION IS BACK
Walkabout Resources Ltd's (ASX:WKT) shares soared 50% on massive volume, over 115 million shares traded, after confirming that test work at its Lindi Jumbo Graphite Project in Tanzania produced a super jumbo, high margin graphite concentrate.
The concentrate contained up to 25.7% super jumbo flakes at a grade of 95.6% total graphitic content (TGC).
These verified results place the project in a high class of revenue per tonne of saleable concentrate.
Super jumbo flake sizes are forecast by industry analyst Stormcrow to sell for US$6,000 per tonne by 2020.
Further optimisation work leading to bench scale test work will continue as the company moves to commissioning design of a modular style flotation plant later this year.
BLUE CHIP ROUND-UP
Major miners
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) down 1.1% to $18.28; Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) up 3.4% to $3.03; Newcrest (ASX:NCM) down 0.6% to $19.35; Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) down 2.0% to $42.90.
Energy or Oil and Gas
Oil Search (ASX:OSH) down 0.7% to $6.65; Santos (ASX:STO) down 2.1% to $4.26; Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) down 1.0% to $26.64.
Big 4 banks
ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) down 1.8% to $24.75; Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) down 1.3% to $75.49; National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) down 1.8% to $26.27; Westpac (ASX:WBC) down 1.7% to $29.86.
Other banks, financials and industrials
AMP (ASX:AMP) down 0.8% to $5.54; Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) down 2.7% to $11.02; Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) down 5.5% to $9.44; Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) down 1.0% to $72.95; Suncorp (ASX:SUN) down 1.1% to $12.69; Telstra (ASX:TLS) up 0.1% to $5.52.
Retailers
JB Hi-FI (ASX:JBH) down 1.5% to $22.51; Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) down 0.5% to $40.22; Woolworths (ASX:WOW) down 1.2% to $21.54.
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