Australian Shares Fall; QBE Insurance Group H1 Adjusted Earnings, Gross Written Premium Up
Australian shares fell on Friday despite overnight gains on Wall Street.The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.8%, or 73.3 points, to close at 9,115.20.Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 reached another record high, up 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively.Brent crude futures held to around $87 per barrel, after the US threatened to extend a naval blockade on Iran.On the domestic front, Australia's mid-sized housing markets enjoy a substantial buffer against the ongoing downturn in home values, while Melbourne has the smallest buffer of any major capital city, according to a Cotality analysis.The number of total loan commitments for dwellings in Australia fell 5.4% to 134,225 in the June Quarter, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.Australia's annual wage growth increased to 3.2% in July, up from 3.1% in June, with employment increasing by around 21,000 jobs, where it had remained for seven consecutive months, Commonwealth Bank of Australia said.In company news, QBE Insurance Group (ASX:QBE) logged $0.683 in adjusted earnings per share for the first half, compared with $0.655 a year ago. For the six months ended June 30, gross written premium was $15.14 billion versus $13.82 billion previously.Storage King Group (ASX:SKG) logged AU$0.0624 in funds from operations per security for fiscal 2026, compared with AU$0.0647 a year ago. For the 12 months ended June 30, total revenue and other income was AU$328.3 million versus AU$460.6 million previously.Baby Bunting Group (ASX:BBN) logged AU$0.079 in earnings per share for fiscal 2026, compared with AU$0.067 a year ago. For the 12 months ended June 28, sales were AU$556 million versus AU$521.9 million previously.
