ASX drops as every sector falls
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The news: The Australian sharemarket has ended the week lower after taking direction from Wall Street where investors’ nervousness on the US interest rate path led to a sharp market decline.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX200 fell 0.56% to 7,773.3, with all 11 sectors finishing in red.
The worst performing sector was IT, down 1.41%, followed by materials (-0.8%) and consumer staples (-0.69%). Most of the large tech companies fell including Wisetech (-1.62%), Xero (-1.72%) and NextDC (-1.98%).
Champion Iron was the worst performer across the ASX200, down 7%, as iron ore prices continued to slide and closed at USD99.89 ($152.05).
Elsewhere, Magellan suffered a fall of 3.76% after it posted further outflows of $700 million in March while Fletcher Building fell 0.8% after another senior executive resigned, this time its long time chief financial officer.
The best performing sector was energy, down 0.02%, followed by utilities (-0.12%), and financials (-0.37%). For most of the trading day energy was the only sector to gain after oil prices climbed above USD90 for the first time since October 2023.
Large energy stocks that rose included Woodside (0.36%), Santos (0.83%), Ampol (0.83%) and Viva Energy (1.07%).
One of the best performers across the ASX200 was Elders (2.5%) after Macquarie analysts upgraded the stock to “outperform”.
Meanwhile, GQG Partners enjoyed gains of 3.18% after it posted a 4.3% rise in funds under management during March.
The Australian dollar is lower buying US65.72 cents.
The context: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the country’s latest unemployment rate later today which will help the US Federal Reserve in its next monetary policy decision.
Next week will see the Australian Bureau of Statistics release the latest lending indicator and building activity figures.
Offshore will see the latest US and China CPI and producer price index figures along with the publication of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes.
