ASX falls, HMC Capital plunges
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket started the week lower as gold miners dragged ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming monetary policy decision.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.56% to end at 8,249.5, with nine out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
Biggest movers:
- HMC Capital (-13.67%), Digico Infrastructure REIT (-5.5%) — Both shares tumbled for a second straight session following HMC’s Digico float on Friday.
- Ventia Services (-9.21%) — Its share price has experienced volatility since the competition regulator announced civil cartel proceedings against the company along with Downer EDI (-1.65%).
- Star Entertainment (5.13%) — The casino operator’s Gold Coast chief executive Mark Mackay resigned on Friday after just three months in the role.
Mining declines:
The materials sector was by far the worst performing, down 2.04%.
- Gold miners — Vault Minerals (-8%), West African Resources (-5.3%), and Bellevue Gold (-4.6%) were the worst performing gold miners as the sector extended declines from last week ahead of Thursday’s US Federal Reserve’s monetary meeting.
- Uranium miners — Boss Energy (-8.05%), Paladin Energy (-4.15%) and Deep Yellow (-3.91%) all fell after rallying on Friday following modelling that claimed that Coalition’s nuclear energy plan would be cheaper than Labor’s renewables strategy.
- Iron ore miners — Fortescue (-3.8%), BHP (-1.99%) and Rio Tinto (-1.72%) all extended losses from last week after China’s key policy meeting failed to announce firm fiscal stimulus measures.
Other news:
- Cleanaway Waste Management (-1.83%) — Morningstar analysts expect the competition regulator to wave through the company’s proposed acquisition of Citywide Waste despite the decision being delayed.
- IGO (-0.79%) — Has picked up a majority stake in the Yeneena copper project in Western Australia.
- Inghams (0.32%) — Chief executive and managing director Andrew Reeves will retire from his roles next year and will be replaced by the company’s New Zealand CEO Edward Alexander.
The Australian dollar is buying 63.74 US cents.
What’s ahead: Overnight will see the latest US flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index figures released.
Tuesday will see Orica hold its annual general meeting while Westpac will release its latest consumer sentiment figures.
