ASX lower ahead of US Fed rate decision
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended lower as investors await the latest US Federal Reserve interest rate decision and “dot plot”.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.51% to end at 7,715.5, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
The worst performing sector was utilities, down 1.08%, followed by IT (-0.97%) and industrials (-0.87%).
Evolution Mining shares fell 1.2% after it flagged that its gold production had taken a hit due to heavy rainfall in NSW and Queensland.
Super Retail Group lost 0.91% after the company appointed Judith Swales as its next chair as Sally Pitkin is set to retire at its AGM later this year.
Meanwhile, SkyCity ended the day 1.22% lower after a review into the suitability of its Adelaide casino licence recommenced.
The best performing and only sector to gain was energy, up 1.01%, followed by consumer staples (-0.2%) and telecommunication services (-0.28%). Woodside led energy gains, up 2.7%, after Macquarie analysts upgraded the company to ‘outperform’.
Champion Iron ended 1.67% higher after it also received an upgrade from Macquarie following the Canadian government classifying high purity iron as a critical mineral.
Elsewhere, Bapcor continued its rally, up 1.81%, on hopes of an improved takeover offer after analysts termed Bain Capital’s bid as “too cheap”.
The Australian dollar is higher buying 66.2 US cents.
The context: Tonight will see the release of the latest US CPI figures, ahead of the latest US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision early Thursday morning.
In the local market, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the latest labour force data on Thursday.
