ASX starts lower; Westpac slides on fresh job cuts
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
More news: Australian shares lowered at the open amid broad losses across the market, with 10 of the 11 sectoral indices dropping into negative territory. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 54.2 points, or 0.61%, to 8,791.7 at 10:30am AEST.
Energy (+0.6%) was the only sector in the green as oil producers Karoon Energy (+1.4%), Beach Energy (+1.1%), Santos (+0.9%) and Woodside Energy (+0.6%) all advanced.
Deterra Royalties was the top performer on the ASX 200, adding 5.6% after agreeing to sell non-core gold offtakes and royalties for a combined $91 million.
Technology (-0.9%) and financial (-0.8%) stocks were the worst hit by the early selloff. Big four lender Westpac dropped 1.3% amid reports the company will cut 200 bank teller jobs across its branch network.
Australian shares to lift as Fed chair Powell comments weigh on Wall Street
The news: Australian shares are set to nudge higher at the open after US stocks ended their multi-day rally, retreating after new comments by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell provided few clues on the prospect of further interest rate cuts.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: up 6 points, or 0.06%, to 8,865
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.19%, S&P 500 down 0.55% and Nasdaq down 0.95%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.54%, DAX up 0.36% and FTSE 100 down 0.04%
- Spot gold: up 0.46% to USD3,764 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.34% at USD67.20/bbl and US WTI up 2.22% to USD63.66/bbl
- AUD: down 0.03% to 65.98 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.71% to USD111,972.
The context: All three of Wall Street's major indices pulled back as Powell said the US central bank needs to weigh inflation concerns with a weakening job market before its next interest rate calls.
Stocks slipped from a series of record closing highs, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq led declines. Megacaps Nvidia and Amazon each closed 2.8% lower.
Fed officials cut their benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point last week and pencilled in two more reductions this year following months of intense pressure from the White House to slash borrowing costs.
