ASX starts lower as tech stocks slide; Bapcor dives 15%
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More news: Australian shares opened lower as tech stocks led a broad selloff in early trading. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 28.5 points, or 0.33%, to 8,595.9 at 10:30am AEDT. Ten of the 11 sectoral indices were in negative territory.
Autobarn owner Bapcor was the worst performer on the ASX 200, plunging 15.5% after downgrading its full-year guidance this morning.
Technology (-0.9%) led sectoral losses as Life360 (-2.8%) and Technology One (-1.3%) dragged. Energy (-0.7%) and mining (-0.5%) stocks were the next worst performers.
Australian shares to fall before RBA’s final word on rates this year
The news: Australian shares are set to drop at the open after Wall Street's three main indices ended lower overnight.
Local investors will await the Reserve Bank's rate decision, due at 2:30pm AEDT, with the central bank expected to keep rates on hold at 3.6% following its final meeting of 2025.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 28 points to 8,605
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.52%, S&P 500 down 0.48% and Nasdaq down 0.32%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.08%, DAX up 0.07% and FTSE 100 down 0.23%
- Spot gold: down 0.24% to USD4,189 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 2.14% to USD62.39/bbl and US WTI down 2.08% to USD58.83/bbl
- AUD: down 0.25% at 66.26 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.02% to USD90,413.
The context: US stocks fell overnight as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's next decision on interest rates, due on Thursday AEDT. Traders are pricing in an 87% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut, up from lows of around 80% just last month, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool.
Paramount Skydance shares ended 7% higher after the media giant lobbed a USD108 billion ($164 billion) bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, which added 4.5%. The move came days after the target agreed a USD72 billion cash-and-stock deal with Netflix, which saw its shares lose 3.3%.
The source: Reuters
