ASX falls, Origin takeover vote postponed

The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower for the second day in a row, the benchmark ASX 200 losing 0.62% to close at 7,029.20. Origin's board has postponed a shareholder vote on a potential takeover by a Brookfield-led consortium, after the consortium made a late secondary offer. AMP shares rose 6.8% after it reached a settlement in a class action led by its former financial advisors.

The numbers: The Aussie dollar is trading near the same price ase yesterday, buying 65.5 US cents. Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors finished in the red on Thursday, with only real estate stocks (+0.3) and communication services stocks (+0.2) holding their ground. Materials (-1.4%), energy (-1.4%) and utilities stocks (-0.9%) led the losses, tracking with a slump in crude oil prices, after OPEC+ delayed a meeting on future supply cuts. Brent crude is trading 1.2% lower at USD80.99 a barrel and West Texas crude is 1.1% lower at USD76.28 per barrel.

The context: Pexa, NextDC, Adairs, WiseTech and Silver Lake Resources will hold annual general meetings tomorrow. Manufacturing purchasing mangers' index data is due overnight in Germany, France and the UK. Manufacturing PMI data from Judo Bank today indicated further contraction in Australian manufacturing and services sectors. US markets will be closed overnight for Thanksgiving.