ASX shares finished lower as Block tanks 16%
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower as Block led the tech sector lower following lower than expected earnings in Q1.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.66% to end at 8,769.7 with six out of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The tech sector (-2.3%) was the worst performing after Block (-15.8%) delivered lower than expected September quarter earnings.
The finance sector (-1.3%) also finished lower after Macquarie Group (-5.7%) missed consensus expectations by about 11%, which Barrenjoey analysts said was largely “driven by higher impairments on green investments”.
Westpac (-1.8%) announced it won't appeal the Fair Work Commission ruling made against it late last month. Commonwealth Bank fell (-1.5%) while NAB (+0.9%) finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- Qantas (-6.6%) – Softened its revenue forecast for the first half of the financial year, but reported steady capacity growth across the group during the first quarter.
- DroneShield (-5.3%) and Electro Optic Systems (-4.2%) – Continued unwinding a rally from the start of the year.
- News Corp (+3%) – Recorded a 2% lift in first-quarter revenue, boosted by growth at its Dow Jones and digital real estate businesses.
What’s ahead:
- The University of Michigan will release preliminary US consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data for November on Saturday at 2:00am AEDT.
- The National Bureau of Statistics of China will release consumer price index and producer price index data for October on Sunday at 12:30pm AEDT.
- RBA deputy governor Andrew Hauser will speak on a panel titled ‘On the rails or off to the races? The Outlook for the Australian economy’ at the UBS Australasia Conference on Monday at 10:30am AEDT.
