ASX snaps five-day winning streak; Star plunges
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The news: The Australian sharemarket has broken its five-day rally, tracking losses on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes suggested a slowdown in monetary easing.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.24% to 8,329.2, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
Biggest movers:
- The Star Entertainment (-33.33%) — The troubled casino operator has warned that it only had $79 million in available cash at December-end.
- Westgold Resources (-13.65%) — Reported a rise in gold production for the December quarter but will have to sharply increase production in the second half to meet FY25 guidance.
- Lovisa (-10.51%) — UBS analysts downgraded their rating on the company to ‘sell’ due to slowing new store rollouts.
- Arcadium Lithium (-7.92%) — The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) cleared the lithium chemicals producer's proposed $9.9 billion acquisition by Rio Tinto.
Analyst ratings:
- Avita Medical (-13.11%) — Extended losses after it downgraded its revenue guidance but Morningstar analysts believe its shares remain undervalued.
- GQG Partners (-6.28%), Magellan Financial Group (-1.55%) — Morgans analysts upgraded their rating on GQG to ‘add’ but maintained their ‘hold’ view on Magellan after both investment managers outlined funds under management at December-end.
- BHP (-0.33%), Rio (0.45%), Fortescue (1.94%) — Citi analysts believe it is too early for investors to buy the iron ore heavyweights due to a persistently weak macro backdrop.
Other news:
- Lifestyle Communities (-2.8%) — Its board has decided to pay new executive chair David Blight a monthly fee of $50,000 in addition to his existing board and committee fee.
- Platinum Asset Management (-1.42%) — Reported further outflows in December but its funds under management increased to $11.05 billion.
- Energy sector (-0.68%) — Woodside (-0.24%), Ampol (-0.03%), Beach Energy (-0.35%) and Karoon Energy (-1.39%) all fell after oil prices tumbled overnight.
The Australian dollar is buying 62 US cents.
What’s ahead: Overnight will see the latest US unemployment claims data released.
On Friday, the ABS will release the latest monthly household spending indicator figures.
