ASX opens lower as tech stocks plunge
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More news: Australian shares opened lower as tech stocks fell sharply, tracking a more than 2% selloff on the Nasdaq on Friday.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was down 1.5% to 8,390 at 10:50am AEDT. Eight of the 11 sectoral indices were lower.
The tech segment slid 4.3% with Block (-6.2%), Siteminder (-6%) and WiseTech (-5.8%) leading losses.
Judo Capital (-7.6%) was the worst performer after Morgan Stanley slashed its price target by 14% amid a weaker economic outlook.
Energy stocks paced gains, up 2.4%, with coal miners Whitehaven (+6.5%), Yancoal (+5%) and New Hope (+4.4%) leading the way.
Gold miners Greatland Resources (+10.6%), Westgold Resources (+4%) and Northern Star (+3.8%) also rallied.
Australian shares to fall as war pushes Wall St indices into corrections
The news: Australian shares are set to slide at the open after Wall Street indices fell sharply on Friday, as the S&P 500 retreated for a fifth straight week and the Nasdaq and Dow Jones confirmed they were in corrections.
The numbers: Updated at 7:50am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 65 points to 8,487.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 1.73%, S&P 500 down 1.67% and the Nasdaq down 2.15%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.87%, DAX down 1.38% and FTSE 100 down 0.05%.
- Spot gold: up 2.70% to USD4,494 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent up 4.22% to USD112.57/bbl and US WTI up 5.46% to USD99.64/bbl.
- AUD: down 0.27% at 68.71 US cents.
- Bitcoin: down 0.37% to USD66,626.
The context: The benchmark S&P 500 is now down nearly 9% from its January closing high and global benchmark oil prices are holding above USD100 a barrel. During Friday’s selloff, the Cboe Volatility Index closed above 30 for the first time since last April.
In the latest escalation to the war in the Middle East, Iran threatened to set “on fire” the 3,500 US troops now arriving in the region, and the Pentagon is reportedly preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran that Trump has yet to approve, The Washington Post reported.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad would host US-Iran talks “in coming days” after hosting foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, with initial discussions focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has already rejected a 15-point US ceasefire proposal, and Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway until 6 April.
Elsewhere, the US payrolls report for March, due later this week, is expected to show an estimated increase of 55,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.4%, according to Reuters data. US retail sales data for February and reports on manufacturing and services activity are also due this week.
In the local market, investors will focus on Tuesday’s release of the notes from the Reserve Bank’s meeting earlier this month. Building approvals and balance of trade figures are also set to be published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week.
