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ASX drops 1.7% in worst day in three weeks

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The news: The Australian sharemarket saw its steepest decline in more than three weeks on Monday, tracking broad losses on Wall Street on Friday.

Mining (-3.4%), energy (-2.7%) and real estate (-2.2%) shares were hit hardest as only 13 ASX 200 stocks ended in the green.

The index closed 1.74% lower at 7,843.4, with all 11 sectors finishing more than 1% lower.

Biggest ASX 200 movers:

  • Pilbara Minerals (-8.2%) — Led a selloff in mining stocks. Iron ore trio Rio Tinto (-4.8%), Fortescue (-4%) and BHP (-3.8%) all sank, as did diversified miners Mineral Resources (-5.2%) and South32 (-4.5%).
  • Orora (4.5%) — Assured investors that "appropriate business practices have been followed" at its European subsidiary Saverglass amid an industry-wide regulatory investigation in France.

Deals:

  • Domain (-1.6%) — Entered into an exclusivity and process deed with US property group CoStar and confirmed that each of its directors will unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the takeover. Majority shareholder Nine Entertainment (-2.6%) also fell.
  • Accent Group (-1.9%) — Confirmed it is in "active discussions" with British retail chain Frasers over a potential deal to launch fitness clothing brand Sports Direct in Australia.
  • Downer EDI (-1.6%) — Secured a new contract with New Zealand energy distribution company Powerco worth up to $540 million.
  • Ventia Services Group (-2.2%) — Penned a seven-month contract extension with the Department of Defence, representing contracted revenue of around $270 million.

Executive moves:

  • WiseTech Global (1.5%) — Announced the appointment of two independent non-executive directors and outlined plans to appoint two more.
  • Qantas (-3.6%) — Long-time director Todd Sampson will retire as a director after 10 years on the board. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Dion Weisler has been appointed as a non-executive director.
  • ANZ (-1.9%) — Brought forward the start date of its incoming CEO Nuno Matos from 2 July to 12 May.

Other news:

  • ASX (-2.8%) — Received a joint letter from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission outlining concerns over the management of operational risk at the bourse operator.
  • Boss Energy (1.2%) — Macquarie reiterated its ‘outperform’ rating on the uranium miner, expecting full-year production to come in above guidance after a recent tour of its Honeymoon project.
  • Incitec Pivot (-3.4%) — Confirmed that it has changed its name to Dyno Nobel and will begin trading under its new ASX ticker code DNL from 2 April.

What's ahead:

  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release monthly data on retail sales on Tuesday morning (11:30am).
  • The Reserve Bank will make its next decision on interest rates in the afternoon (2:30pm AEDT), after cutting rates for the first time since November 2020 last month.

By Hugo Mathers