ASX opens lower as miners retreat; Beach Energy sheds 10%
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More news: Australian shares dropped at the open, tracking losses on Wall Street overnight, as a heavy selloff in mining stocks weighed on the market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 38.7 points, or 0.44%, to 8,717.7 at 10:30am AEST. Eight of the 11 sectoral indices were in the green.
The mining sector shed 2.1% with iron ore giants BHP, Fortescue and Rio Tinto all falling more than 2%. Rio Tinto reported its lowest half-year earnings since 2020 after the market closed on Wednesday. Smaller rival Champion Iron fell 6.3% after Macquarie downgraded its position on the stock following a weaker-than-expected trading update for the June quarter.
Oil and gas explorer Beach Energy was the worst performing ASX 200 company, sinking 10.1% after reporting a decline in fourth-quarter production and flagging a $474 million impairment charge.
Travel agency Flight Centre (-6.1%) also lowered after telling investors it expects to miss its underlying profit guidance for the year.
Fashion retail platform Cettire plunged 16.2% after flagging changes to US tariff policy that will impact the shipment of its packages into the country.
Tech stocks (+0.5%) led gains, after the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced overnight, with tracking app developer Life360 (+2%), Afterpay owner Block (+1%), and software giant WiseTech Global (+1%) all among the best performers.
Australian shares to drop as Fed rate call sends US stocks lower
The news: Australian shares are set to lower this morning, tracking losses on Wall Street overnight after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady, with Fed chair Jerome Powell cooling expectations for a rate cut in September.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 21 points to 8,694 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.38%, S&P 500 down 0.12%, and Nasdaq up 0.15%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.06%, DAX up 0.19%, and FTSE 100 up 0.01%
- Spot gold: down 1.55% to USD3,275 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.32% to USD72.70/bbl, and US WTI up 1.57% to USD70.30/bbl
- AUD: down 1.16% to 64.36 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.03% to USD117,108.
The context: US stocks retreated overnight as the Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, at 4.25% to 4.5%, as expected. The central bank downgraded its assessment of the US economy, saying “growth of economic activity moderated in the first half of the year.” Powell said it was too soon to say whether the Fed would cut rates at its next meeting in September, despite intense pressure to do so from US President Donald Trump.
Despite declines across the Dow Jones and S&P 500, the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged higher. Shares in tech giants Microsoft (7.5%) and Meta Platforms (11.5%) both surged in after hours trading after reporting solid second-quarter earnings.
