ASX opens lower as CBA slides; Web Travel Group and Mesoblast surge
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More news: Australian shares lowered at the open as staples and financials led losses and healthcare and mining stocks gained.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 11.5 points, or 0.13%, to 8,969.9 at 10:40am AEDT. Six of the 11 sectoral indices were in negative territory.
Staples (-0.8%) were the worst performers, as supermarket giants Woolworths (-1%) and Coles (-0.7%) both dropped. Financials (-0.6%) were also lower as each of the big four banks fell. Commonwealth Bank (-1%) was worst hit, after its New Zealand subsidiary ASB Bank agreed to pay $120 million to resolve class action proceedings.
Meanwhile, Web Travel Group was the best performing ASX 200 company, surging 9.4% after delivering a 22% jump in first-half total transaction value. Biotech Mesoblast (+5.8%) also climbed after announcing that its Ryoncil cell therapy achieved $33 million in gross revenue in the second quarter since the product’s launch.
Australian shares to climb past 9,000 as AMD paces Wall Street rally
The news: Australian shares are set to open above 9,000 this morning as AI-related stocks powered the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to new closing highs, while the US government shutdown entered its sixth day.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 19 points, or 0.21%, to 9,005
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.14%, S&P 500 up 0.39% and Nasdaq up 0.71%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 1.36%, DAX flat and FTSE 100 down 0.13%
- Spot gold: up 1.86% to USD3,959 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 1.66% at USD65.61/bbl and US WTI up 1.55% to USD61.82/bbl
- AUD: up 0.25% to 66.18 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 1.55% to USD125,462.
The context: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached fresh record closing highs overnight, while the Dow lowered.
Shares in chipmaker AMD surged 23.7% after OpenAI agreed to buy tens of billions of dollars’ worth of AMD chips as part of a deal that could see OpenAI take an almost 10% stake in the company. Shares in fellow chipmakers TSMC (+3.5%) and Micron (+1.7%) climbed, while Nvidia (-1.1%) and Broadcom (-0.9%) fell.
The US government was closed for the sixth day, preventing the release of key economic indicators. However, traders have priced in 94.6% chance of a 25-basis-point interest cut at the Federal Reserve's October meeting.
