ASX lower as gold drags
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended the trading day subdued after US Federal Reserve meeting minutes released overnight said that price pressures would ease slowly due to disappointing inflation readings.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 ended 0.46% lower at 7,811.8 despite six out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
The worst performing sector was materials, down 2.15%, followed by consumer discretionary (-1%) and financials (-0.58%). Half of the bottom performing ASX 200 stocks were gold companies as investors optimism for a US interest rate cut in September fell. Regis Resources (-7.55%), Bellevue Gold (-6.19%) Red 5 (-5.21), Genesis Minerals (-5.03%) and Capricorn Metals (-4.89%) all fell.
Nufarm ended 7.07% lower after posting a slide in profit as customer destocking and lower prices weighed on its performance.
BHP fell 3.03% after Anglo American rejected its latest takeover bid and analysts commented that there was too much project and synergy execution risk.
Orica ended 0.69% lower after it announced a slew of changes to its executive committee.
Elsewhere, Karoon Energy fell 0.27% after a fiery AGM saw its board receive its first strike after more than 25% of shareholders voted against its remuneration report.
The best performing sector was IT, up 2.25%, followed by healthcare (1.31%) and consumer staples (1.11%). Xero was one of the best performing ASX 200 stock, up 8.53%, after posting a double-digit rise in full-year revenue and a swing to profit in FY24.
Origin Energy ended the day 1.67% higher after a volatile day following the announcement that it had closed a deal with the NSW government to allow it to delay the closure of its Eraring coal-fired power station by two years.
News Corp gained 1.97% after announcing a deal with OpenAI that would see the media group’s news content brought to ChatGPT.
Australian Ethical increased 4.55% after announcing that it would acquire fixed income manager Altius Asset Management from Australian Unity.
The Australian dollar is higher buying 66.27 US cents.
The context: Tonight will see the release of US unemployment claim figures along with flash manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indices.
Friday will see Appen hold its AGM.
