The Australian market plummeted on Monday, as investors started worrying about the impact of the Italian referendum. The downward trend continued throughout the day, with the big four banks and other blue-chip stocks leading the fall despite the strong performance of utilities stocks.

Most sectors posted negative results, with only materials and utilities ending in the green. The Australian dollar fell against most major currencies, with the exception of the Japanese yen and euro. 

Vocus Communications announced it had executed a binding agreement with Alcatel Submarine Networks, for the construction of the Australia Singapore Cable.

The project is a 4600-kilometre submarine cable system linking Australia to Singapore and Indonesia.

It is expected to take 19 months to build, with a completion target of August 2018.

The effective life of the cable is estimated to be a minimum of 25 years. 

IRESS announced it had successfully delivered its mortgage sales and originations solution for Atom Bank’s first mortgage proposition as part of its long-term strategic partnership with the challenger bank in the UK.

Santos announced its new strategy to drive sustainable shareholder value by becoming a low-cost, reliable and high performance business.

The company will target a US$1.5-billion reduction in net debt to less than US$3-billion by the end of 2019 through increased operating cash flow and releasing capital through non-core asset and infrastructure sales. Santos lost nine cents to $4.27 on Thursday and ended the week on $4.30.  

The gold price finished at $1161.10 per ounce, the WTI oil price traded at $51.43 a barrel, and the Australian dollar was worth US $0.75. In the US, the Dow Jones finished up 142.04 points to end the week at 19,756.85. This result caused the Share Price Index to finish up 23 points at 5582, which should lead to a positive start to trading.