ASX loses 1.3% as US tariffs take effect
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The news: The Australian sharemarket closed 1.3% lower following declines on Wall Street overnight and after US President Donald Trump confirmed Australia would not be exempt from new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, which came into effect today.
The ASX 200 ended at 7,786.2, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in red. The benchmark was more than 1.9% down earlier in the session, entering correction territory before it pared losses.
Among those hardest hit in the selloff were mining giants Rio Tinto (-2.3%) and BHP (-1.8%), and the market's largest energy, healthcare and discretionary stocks, Woodside Energy (-2.1%), CSL (-1.2%) and Wesfarmers (-2.8%). Each of the big four banks National Australia Bank (-2.4%), Westpac (-2.4%), ANZ (-2.1%) and Commonwealth Bank (-1.4%) also saw losses.
ASX 200 declines:
- IPH (-10%) — Confirmed that its longtime chief financial officer John Wadley will leave the company in June.
ASX 200 gains:
- Nickel Industries (8.3%) — Rebounded after tanking nearly 20% on Tuesday, as it played down the impact of potential royalty increases by the Indonesian government. Bell Potter analysts also said any changes would have a "minimal impact" on the miner's valuation and earnings forecast.
Other news:
- Ramelius Resources (-8.7%) — Extended Tuesday's selloff after outlining lower-than-expected production guidance for its Mount Magnet mine. Macquarie slashed its target price on the gold miner by 19%.
- Coles (0.3%) — Morgan Stanley upgraded the supermarket giant from 'equal-weight' to 'overweight', noting it has "meaningfully closed the margin gap" on its larger competitor Woolworths (-1.5%).
- Sandfire Resources (0.5%) — Announced a $1 billion corporate revolver facility under an agreement with a group of major lenders to repay existing debt facilities on its Matsa and Motheo copper mines.
- Orica (-1.3%) — Unveiled a $400 million share buyback, days after flagging stronger than expected first half earnings.
- Telix Pharmaceuticals (1.7%) — Sealed its acquisition of a suite of new theranostic candidates, targeting fibroblast activation protein, one of the most promising pan-cancer targets in nuclear medicine.
- Insurance Australia Group (-0.4%) — Said it has received more than 4,000 claims across south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales related to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.92 US cents.
