ASX ends lower as CHESS hit by outage
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More news: The ASX 200 fell 1.24% to end at 8,067, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
During the trading day, the ASX clearing house system CHESS was hit with an outage that caused a delay to settlement processes for the day. It had yet to resolve the issue as of 4:35pm AEDT.
Hotel Property Investments’ (ended flat) board reversed its earlier advice and have told shareholders they should accept the proposed takeover bid by Charter Hall Retail REIT and Hostplus. The reversal was a result of the bidders increasing their shareholding in the company to 52%.
Stocks in the news that ended lower:
- Bellevue Gold (-5.56%)
- Wesfarmers (-5%)
- EVT (-3.29%)
- Generation Development Group (-2.65%)
- Paladin (-0.64%)
- Tabcorp (pared losses to end flat)
Stocks in the news that ended higher:
- HMC Capital (3.33%)
- Ventia Services Group (3.77%)
- Vicinity Centres (0.98%)
- Cleanaway (0.38%)
- Evolution Mining (pared gains to end flat)
The Australian dollar is buying 62.25 US cents.
ASX extends losses
The news: The Australian sharemarket has extended losses after a deep drop on Thursday, despite a rebound on Wall Street a day after the US Federal Reserve forecast fewer-than-expected interest rate cuts in 2025.
The benchmark ASX 200 was down 1.34% to 8,058.8 at 1:35pm AEDT, with nine out of 11 sectors trading in red.
Biggest movers:
- Bellevue Gold (-4.49%) — Spot gold pared losses earlier in the day to trade about flat after slipping 2% to a one-month low on the back of the latest US economic data. Bellevue was the worst performer across the ASX 200.
- HMC Capital (3.53%) — Bell Potter upgraded its rating on the asset manager to 'buy' and hiked its earnings-per-share estimate on the stock. It was the best performer across the ASX 200.
Deals:
- Wesfarmers (-3.66%) — Agreed to sell its Coregas business to Japan’s Nippon Sanso for $770 million.
- Cleanaway (0.19%) — Announced a joint venture with Australian bioenergy and methane abatement company LMS Energy to process and monetise landfill gas at its Lucas Heights landfill in New South Wales.
- Vicinity Centres (0.98%) — Agreed to divest stakes in three non-strategic assets located in South Australia and New South Wales for $457 million.
- Ventia Services Group (3.04%) — Secured a deal to build and maintain Telstra’s critical digital infrastructure which is expected to generate over $400 million in annual revenue for the next five years.
People moves:
- Generation Development Group (-2.38%) — Internally appointed former Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett as its new chief executive and Rob Coombe as its executive chair.
- Tabcorp (-1.32%) — Appointed ex-Paramount ANZ regional leader Jarrod Villani as its first chief commercial and media officer and has created the role of chief wagering officer.
- Evolution Mining (0.73%) — Its chief financial officer Barrie Van der Merwe will step down in March 2025 to pursue another opportunity within the industry.
Other news:
- EVT (-3.46%) — Shares tumbled despite a note from Morningstar that said there were positive signs emerging for the Event Cinemas and Rydges Hotel owner.
- Paladin (-1.54%) — Citi analysts lifted their price target on the stock after the company received final regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of Canadian explorer Fission Uranium.
That Australian dollar is buying 62.25 US cents.
What’s ahead: Next week will see the Reserve Bank release its latest monetary policy meeting minutes.
Offshore, the latest US consumer confidence and unemployment claims figures will be released.
