ASX opens lower as tech and oil stocks lead losses; Treasury Wine sheds 10%
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More news: Australian shares opened sharply lower this morning, following a steep selloff on Wall Street on Friday, with all 11 sectoral indices sliding into negative territory.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 72.3 points, or 0.78%, to 8,892.8 at 10:30am AEDT.
Tech stocks (-2.9%) were the worst performers, with Life360 (-3.6%), WiseTech (-3%) and Xero (-2.4%) all dropping. The energy sector fell 1.8% as oil giants Woodside (-2.1%) and Santos (-1.7%) tracked a slump in global crude prices.
Treasury Wine was the worst performer on the ASX 200, diving 10.3% after scrapping its full-year guidance. DroneShield (-3.9%) also lowered despite announcing that its detection system DroneSentry had passed a UK government national security assessment.
Gold miners made up most of the top performers as investors turned to the safe-haven metal amid increased US-China tariff uncertainty. Regis Resources (+6.9%), Bellevue Gold (+4.7%) and Catalyst Metals (+4.5%) led gains.
Australian shares to fall after US-China trade tensions spark Wall Street selloff
The news: Australian shares are poised to drop at the open after a sharp selloff on Wall Street on Friday, as US President Donald Trump appeared to reignite trade tensions with China.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 45 points to 8,914
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 1.90%, S&P 500 down 2.71% and Nasdaq down 2.09%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 1.53%, DAX down 1.50% and FTSE 100 down 0.86%
- Spot gold: up 1.02% to USD4,016 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 3.82% at USD62.73/bbl and US WTI down 4.24% to USD58.90/bbl
- AUD: down 0.63% to 65.16 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 4.1% to USD115,336.
The context: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw their largest single-day percentage decline since April, raising concerns that inflated market valuations may face an imminent downturn.
Friday's slump came as tariff uncertainty reemerged, after Trump revived threats to lift tariffs against China.
Trump's suggestion of a "massive increase" in duties on Chinese imports also saw oil and crypto plunge, as investors piled into Treasuries and gold.
However, crypto markets rebounded this morning after Trump attempted to calm investor trade fears, posting: “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!”
Elsewhere, third-quarter earnings season unofficially kicks off this week, with the big US banks set to report.
In the local market, Aussie Broadband, Stockland and Treasury Wine Estates are among the companies set to host their annual general meetings this week.
The source: Reuters
