ASX lower as gold stocks drag
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The news: The Australian sharemarket has started the week lower as investors remain cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy decision due this week.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 dropped 1.33% to finish at 7,755.4, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
The worst sector was materials, down 2.58%, followed by AREITs (-2.35%) and utilities (-2.03%). Gold stocks led losses today, following a fall in gold prices as China paused purchases. Emerald Resources (-9.16%), West African Resources (-8.47%), Genesis Minerals (-8.54%), Regis Resources (-8.07%), Ramelius Resources (-7.75%), Capricorn Metals (-7.72%), Evolution Mining (-6.84%) and Gold Road Resources (-6.2%) all recorded heavy sell-offs.
AGL shares fell 1.53% after it announced it would transfer its customers onto the UK’s Kaluza smart energy platform to simplify billing, and take a stake in the company.
Woodside fell just 0.37% compared to the energy sector decline of 1.22% after it announced that it had drilled the first oil from the Sangomar field development, Senegal's inaugural offshore oil project.
The best-performing sector was consumer discretionary, up 0.11%, followed by IT (-0.15%) and consumer staples (-0.57%). Bapcor shares jumped 13.3% after the troubled auto parts retailer confirmed it had received a takeover offer from private equity firm Bain Capital.
Elsewhere, Mercury NZ shares rose 4.37% after it announced the retirement of its CEO Vince Hawksworth.
Despite Bell Potter analysts downgrading APM Human Services from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, its shares rose 0.72%.
Beach Energy also gained 0.32% despite flagging up to $400 million in impairment charges.
The Australian dollar is lower, buying 66.07 US cents.
The context: All eyes will be on US CPI figures late Wednesday night ahead of the latest monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve.
