ASX closes sharply lower on fourth consecutive day of decline
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The news: The Australian sharemarket declined for the fourth consecutive day as all sectors took a hit.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 1.82% to end at 8,738.8 with all of the 11 sectors finishing in red.
The tech sector (-3.9%) was the worst performing as Xero (-6.2%) led losses on the ASX 200. The accounting software provider made a slew of new feature announcements at its annual industry conference, Xerocon.
Ahead of the event, CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy gave her first interviews in which she spruiked the company’s near $4 billion acquisition of US payments company Melio and defended her USD15.2 million ($23.3 million) remuneration package.
Citi analysts cut their target price for Wisetech Global (-4.6%) by 9% amid “near-term growth concerns”. Tech peers TechnologyOne (-3.8%), Life360 (-2.3%), and Megaport (-4.8%) also fell.
The finance sector (-2.8%) dropped as Commonwealth Bank (-3.5%), NAB (-2.3%), Westpac (-3.7%), ANZ (-2.2%) and Macquarie (-2.6%) all finished lower. UBS analysts downgraded their position of Westpac’s stock from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’.
Biggest movers:
- Platinum Asset Management (-6.7%) – A Morningstar analyst said its proposed merger with L1 Capital is “sensible” amid earnings declines. On Monday evening it flagged that a “large client” would redeem more than half a billion dollars from some of its Platinum Trust funds and its mandate.
- GrainCorp (+3.7%) – The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences improved its crop production forecast for winter 2025-26. It is now expected to be the third largest on record. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Bell Potter lifted their target price.
- Bellevue Gold (+2.8%) – The spot price of gold remained near record highs after breaking USD3,500 per ounce for the first time on Tuesday. Bellevue also announced former Karora Resources managing director Leigh Junk had joined its board.
What’s ahead:
- RBA governor Michelle Bullock will deliver the Shann memorial lecture, titled 'Technology and the Future of Central Banking at the RBA', at the University of Western Australia in Perth at 6:00pm AEST.
- Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and other monetary policy committee members will appear before the UK Parliament’s Treasury committee at 11:15pm AEST.
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release job openings and labor turnover survey data for July at midnight AEST.
