Australia Stocks Went Up at the End of Trade

Australia stocks increased after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy, and Resources sectors driven the shares higher.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 increased 0.29 percent after the close in Sydney.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Wisetech Global Ltd., which went up 6.69 percent or 0.680 points to trade at 10.840 at the close. Corporate Travel Management Ltd. also gained 6.40 percent or 1.430 points to close at 23.780 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd. increased 5.03 percent or 0.040 points to 0.835.

The worst performers of the session, on the other hand, were CYBG PLC, which went dropped 5.94 percent or 0.330 points to trade at 5.230. Link Administration Holdings Ltd. fell 4.48 percent or 0.390 points to close at 8.320 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd. was also down 2.80 percent or 0.020 points to 0.695.

The increasing stocks have outnumbered the decreasing stock on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 678 to 525 and 383.

However, the S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, declined 5.56 percent to 11.917, which is a new 1-month low.

The June delivery of Gold Futures went down 0.28 percent or 3.80 to $1345.70 a troy ounce. However, the crude oil for May delivery increased 0.84 percent or 0.56 to hit $67.08 a barrel, while the Brent oil contract in June went up 0.80 percent or 0.57 to trade at $72.15 a barrel.

AUD/USD went up 0.01 percent to 0.7769, while AUD/JPY increased 0.36 percent to 83.40.

Australian Banking Executives to Face Jail

In other news, Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison told that the financial executives who are responsible for the widespread breaches of corporate law could face jail, as a powerful judicial injury heard more evidence of misconduct by the country’s top financial institutions.

The comments of Morrison on Wednesday were made after executives at AMP Ltd., the largest wealth manager in Australia, admitted that employees had lied to the corporate regulator for almost a decade. This is to cover up its practice of charging thousands of consumers for services that they did not provide.

In further testimony to the Royal Commission, the executives of AMP stated that it had charged users of online platforms for advice fees although it did not received any permission required by law.

“What has occurred here and what has been admitted to in the Royal Commission by AMP is deeply disturbing,” stated Morrison.

“This type of behavior can attract penalties which include jail time. That is how serious these things are.”

The government-backed Royal Commission into the banking sector of Australia is just for a couple of months into what is expected to be a year-long investigation and public grilling of senior executives in the financial sector of Australia.

“AMP is deeply disappointed that its advice business has charged customers fees where service has not been provided and for misleading the regulator in this regard,” an AMP spokesperson stated.

“We apologize unreservedly to our customers, our regulator, and the community more broadly,” she added.

Meanwhile, the shares of AMP went down 2.2 percent after falling 4.4 percent the other day. The broader market, on the other hand, went up 0.4 percent.

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