ASX lowers as tech and mining stocks retreat; Woodside rallies on Williams deal
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
More news: Australian shares opened lower as tech and mining stocks led broad losses across the market. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 30.8 points, or 0.34%, to 8,999.2 at 10:30am AEDT, with eight of the 11 sectoral indices in the red.
The tech sector fell 1.3%, tracking losses on Wall Street overnight, with the segment's two largest stocks WiseTech (-1.6%) and Xero (-1.1%) both sliding.
Several miners that surged earlier in the week following news of the US-Australia critical minerals deal retreated. Alcoa Corporation (-4.5%), IperionX (-3.6%) and Iluka Resources (-2.8%) were among them.
Meanwhile, energy stocks climbed 2.5%, with oil majors Karoon Energy (+6.3%), Woodside Energy (+3.8%), Beach Energy (+3.3%), Ampol (+2.7%) and Santos (+1.6%) making up half of the top 10 performers on the ASX 200.
The rally came as Karoon delivered an upbeat third-quarter report this morning, and as Woodside announced a $378m deal with US energy giant Williams.
Australian shares to follow US stocks lower on mixed earnings, US-China tensions
The news: Australian shares are poised to drop at the open after each of Wall Street's main indices closed lower on the back of a slate of mixed third-quarter earnings results.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 16 points to 8,999
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.71%, S&P 500 down 0.50% and Nasdaq down 0.93%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.63%, DAX down 0.74% and FTSE 100 up 0.93%
- Spot gold: down 0.48% to USD4,104 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 3.26% at USD63.32/bbl and US WTI up 3.44% to USD59.21/bbl
- AUD: flat at 64.89 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.48% to USD107,884.
The context: US stocks fell overnight as streaming giant Netflix (-10.1%) and semiconductor company Texas Instruments (-5.6%) both tumbled following the release of their Q3 results.
Elon Musk's car maker Tesla, the first of the so-called 'Magnificent Seven' tech megacaps to report this cycle, fell 1.5% in after-hours trading after missing estimates for the quarter.
Elsewhere, investors weighed media reports that the Trump administration is considering curbs on exports to China on a range of US-made software, including ERP, CRM and CAD systems.
In the local market, insurance group IAG, bourse operator ASX, hearing device maker Cochlear and mining giant BHP are among the companies holding their annual general meetings today.
