ASX opens lower as Santos tanks on scrapped takeover plans
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More news: Australian shares tumbled at the open as oil giant Santos plunged more than 11% after ADNOC's foreign investment arm XRG scrapped its proposed $36 billion takeover of the oil giant overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 72.1 points, or 0.82%, to 8,746.4 at 10:30am AEST. 10 of the 11 sectoral indices were in negative territory, with Santos' selloff taking the energy sector down 5.6%.
Oil rivals Woodside Energy (-4.5%), Karoon Energy (-4%) and Beach Energy (-2.7%) were also among the worst performers on the ASX 200.
Elsewhere, Magellan Financial Group shed 4.2% after Macquarie downgraded the investment manager to an 'underperform' rating.
Australian shares to lift as Fed rate cut leaves Wall Street mixed
The news: Australian shares are set edge higher at the open after a choppy session on Wall Street, as the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for the first time in nine months.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: up 3 points, or 0.03%, to 8,832
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.57%, S&P 500 down 0.10% and Nasdaq down 0.33%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.40%, DAX up 0.13% and FTSE 100 up 0.14%
- Spot gold: down 0.82% to USD3,660 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.03% at USD67.93/bbl and US WTI down 0.85% to USD63.97/bbl
- AUD: down 0.43% to 66.57 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.79% to USD115,859.
The context: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower overnight as the Fed delivered an expected 25-basis-point cut to interest rates.
A narrow majority of Fed officials also pencilled in at least two more cuts this year, suggesting possible reductions at both of the central bank’s remaining meetings in October and December.
In a press conference, Fed chair Jerome Powell talked about the mounting downside risks to employment compared to inflation, but said inflation risks still must be assessed and managed.
