ASX starts lowers as JB Hi-Fi, Wesfarmers retreat on Q1 updates; MinRes soars
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More news: Australian shares opened lower as a spate of trading updates saw shares in retail groups JB Hi-Fi and Wesfarmers drop, while Mineral Resources soared.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 43.4 points, or 0.49%, to 8,882.8 at 10:40am AEDT. Energy (+0.7%) and materials (+0.4%) were the only two sectoral indices in positive territory.
JB Hi-Fi (-5.4%) and Wesfarmers (-3.5%) were two of the worst performers on the ASX 200 after providing Q1 trading updates ahead of their annual general meetings today. James Hardie (-3.8%) also dropped after shareholders voted chair Anne Lloyd off the board.
Shares in mining group Mineral Resources surged 8.2% following this morning's quarterly update. Fellow lithium producers Liontown Resources (+7.3%) and Pilbara Minerals (+3.5%) helped make up the top three performers on the ASX 200.
Australian shares to fall after US stocks end mixed on Fed comments
The news: Australian shares are set to lower at the open after US stocks ended mixed, as the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates but Fed chair Jerome Powell cast doubt over another cut in December.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 13 points to 8,909
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.16%, S&P 500 up 0.02% and Nasdaq up 0.55%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.19%, DAX down 0.64% and FTSE 100 up 0.61%
- Spot gold: down 0.28% to USD3,941 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.73% at USD64.87/bbl and US WTI up 0.38% to USD60.38/bbl
- AUD: down 0.20% at 65.72 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 2.06% to USD110,591.
The context: The Dow ended lower while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted gains after the Fed cut interest rates by 0.25%, as expected, to a target range of 3.75% to 4%.
However, Powell said that officials in the policy meeting held "strongly different views about how to proceed in December." Traders now see a 60% chance of another quarter-point cut in two months' time, having been almost fully priced in prior to the Fed's latest meeting.
Meanwhile, tech megacap Nvidia became the first company to reach USD5 trillion ($7.6 trillion) in market valuation, jumping 3.1% amid a broad rally in AI-related stocks. Fellow market giants Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta will report their third-quarter earnings after the close.
In the local market, Woolworths, Wesfarmers, JB Hi-Fi, and Whitehaven Coal will hold their annual general meetings today.
