ASX closes lower; Breville leads consumer discretionary losses
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The news: The Australian sharemarket closed lower as consumer discretionary and telecommunications sectors led broad losses.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.27% to end at 8,956.8 with 10 out of the 11 sectors finished in red.
The consumer discretionary sector (-1.2%) was the worst performing as the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index reached a six-month low. The index fell 3.5% to 92.1 in October from 95.4 in September.
Breville (-4.5%) was the worst performing consumer discretionary stock on the ASX 200. Wesfarmers (-1.3%), Aristocrat Leisure (-1.3%), JB Hi-Fi (-1.5%) and The Lottery Corporation (-1.9%) also fell.
Meanwhile, business-to-business focused Web Travel Group (+3%) posted gains after reporting a 22% increase in total transaction value for the first half of FY26 compared to the previous corresponding period.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (-0.4%) named Dieter Haberl as the CEO of Domino’s Japan, effective 20 October. Acting CEO Josh Kiliminik will leave the business on 30 March 2026 following a transition period.
The telecommunications sector (-1.1%) also finished lower as Telstra (-0.6%), REA Group (-2.1%), CAR Group (-2.9%) and Seek (-1.4%) posted losses.
Biggest movers:
- Droneshield (-3.7%) – Plans to invest $13 million over three years to establish a new R&D facility in Adelaide. The best performing stock on the ASX 200.
- Greatland Resources (+9.6%) – Announced higher than expected gold and copper production volumes for the September quarter. Citi analysts lifted their target price on the stock by 30 cents to $9.
- Catapult Sports (+3.5%) – Jefferies analysts lifted the target price on the stock by 21% to $8.60.
- Mesoblast (+3.1%) – The biotech’s Ryoncil cell therapy achieved USD21.9 million ($33.1 million) in gross revenue during the second quarter since the product’s launch.
Other news:
- Infratil (-1.6%) – The infrastructure investor’s part-owned data centre developer CDC has seen a $77 million increase in its valuation over the last three months, according to a new independent valuation.
- ASX Limited (-1.36%) – The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has approved Cboe Australia’s listing market application, allowing it to list new companies on its platform and potentially boosting competition against the ASX.
- Fortescue (-1.1%) – Launched tender offers to pay off USD600 million ($907 million) worth of outstanding debt notes it has issued.
- Commonwealth Bank (-0.4%) – New Zealand subsidiary ASB Bank has agreed to pay NZD135.6 million ($119.7 million) to resolve class action proceedings served in September 2021.
- Rio Tinto (+0.5%) – Will invest $389 million to develop the West Angelas Sustaining Project in Western Australia, as part of a $733 million investment with Japan's Mitsui and Nippon Steel.
What’s ahead:
- The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will make a cash rate decision and release an accompanying rate statement tomorrow at 12:00pm AEDT.
