ASX falls with all sectors in the red
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended lower, tracking Wall Street’s fall as investors digested unfavourable US economic data that showed rising labour costs and deteriorating consumer confidence.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 ended down 1.23% to 7,569.9, with all 11 sectors finishing in red.
The worst performing sector was energy, down 1.97%, followed by materials (-1.78%) and IT (-1.48%). Oil majors Woodside (-2.48%), Santos (-2.01%) and Ampol (-3.64%) all fell as global oil prices continued to decline due to easing tensions in the Middle East and elevated inflation data in the US.
Reece fell 2.44% following a raft of leadership changes including expanding group CEO Peter Wilson’s role to chair and CEO.
Synlait Milk ended 3.3% lower after it announced that its co-founder and chair John Penno had stepped down from the role effective immediately.
Qantas ended the day down 1.19% after it spent the trading day investigating an issue with its mobile app that reportedly gave customers access to other passengers’ information.
Telix Pharmaceuticals fell 2.46% after analysts downgraded the stock to ‘hold’, while Vicinity Centres lost 2.34% despite reaffirming its full-year earnings guidance.
The best performing sector was utilities (-0.51%) followed by financials (-0.72%) and consumer staples (-0.85%). Large energy companies all fell including Origin (-0.51%), APA Group (-0.54%) and Mercury NZ (-1.84%).
Amcor, up 4.12%, was one of the best performers across the ASX 200, after the packaging company narrowed its earnings guidance following an improved performance in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Woolworths gained 0.03% after announcing it would sell a 5% stake in drinks group Endeavour, which fell 4.1%. Coles gained 1.23% after UBS analysts upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ due to strong supermarket sales.
The Australian dollar is higher, buying 64.79 US cents.
The context: All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve tomorrow as it announces its latest monetary policy decision at 4:00am AEST. Analysts have pushed back their rate cut expectations to November after recent hotter-than-expected inflation figures.
Thursday will also see the Australian Bureau of Statistics release its latest building approvals data, while NAB, Mastercard and Pfizer will post earnings.
