ASX rises as oil stocks pace gains; IGO sheds 10% on refinery issues
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More news: Australian shares edged higher at the start of trading, as energy stocks led gains. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 11.2 points, or 0.13%, to 8,715.8 at 10:30am AEST. Six of the 11 sectoral indices were in the green.
Energy stocks added 0.8%, with oil companies Woodside Energy (+1.4%), Ampol (+1.4%), Viva Energy (+1%) and Karoon Energy (+1.6%) tracking rising crude prices overnight.
Gold miner West African Resources was the best performing ASX 200 company, lifting 5.2% after reporting an uptick in second-quarter gold sales. Mineral Resources, up 2.6%, was also one of the best performers after hitting its full-year production and cost guidance.
Critical minerals miner IGO was the worst performer, tumbling 10.4% after flagging "operational problems and ongoing issues" at its Kwinana lithium hydroxide refinery in Western Australia.
Australian shares to lower as Q2 earnings weigh on Wall Street
The news: Australian shares are poised to open lower after US stocks pulled back from record highs overnight, as a number of major corporate earnings disappointed and investors braced for the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy statement.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 7 points to 8,662 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.46%, S&P 500 down 0.30%, and Nasdaq up 0.38%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.72%, DAX up 1.03%, and FTSE 100 up 0.60%
- Spot gold: up 0.36% to USD3,327 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.17% to USD71.80/bbl, and US WTI up 3.81% to USD69.25/bbl
- AUD: down 0.21% to 65.13 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.03% to USD117,449.
The context: The S&P 500 ended a six-day winning streak after heath insurer UnitedHealth (-7.5%), aircraft manufacturer Boeing (-4.4%) and drugmaker Merck (-1.7%) fell after posting their second-quarter earnings.
Meanwhile, central bank officials began a two-day policy meeting ahead of a decision on interest rates expected at 4am AEST Thursday.
Locally, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its consumer price index figures at 11:30am AEST.
Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto and Champion Iron are due to report half-year and quarterly results respectively.
