ASX falls further as materials drag
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The news: The Australian sharemarket fell further on Friday as investors trimmed holdings after recent hotter than expected US inflation figures could lead the US Federal Reserve to push back interest rate cuts.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.56% to 7,670.3 with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
The worst performing sector was materials, down 1.91%, followed by consumer discretionary (-1.03%) and IT (-0.86%).
As iron ore prices continue to fall, the largest miners BHP, Fortescue and Rio Tinto slid 1.56%, 2.45%, and 2.19% respectively. However, Citi analysts today upgraded their ratings on BHP and Fortescue and said the world’s steel industry excluding China was expected to recover in 2024-25.
Battery minerals producer Liontown was one of the bottom performers for the ASX 200 overall as it finished down 8.06% after it posted a $31 million loss for the first half of the financial year.
On the consumer discretionary side, Tabcorp was one of the worst performers as it fell 5.56% following the resignation of its CEO after an alleged use of ‘offensive’ language.
The best performing sector was energy, up 2.01%, followed by utilities (1.03%) and AREITs (0.76%). Oil prices climbed to a four-month high after the International Energy Agency raised its view on oil demand growth. All the oil majors were with Woodside up 2.2% and Santos up 2.23%.
One of the best performing stocks across the sharemarket was Pentanet that gained 76% after announcing it had extended its cloud gaming deal with Nvidia.
The context: Next will see a raft of monetary policy decisions globally including Australia, the US, the UK and possibly Japan. The latest unemployment figures for Australia will also be released.
