ASX opens lower dragged down by pullback in mining stocks
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More news: Australian shares opened lower, weighed down by a pullback in mining stocks.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was down by 18.7 points, or 0.21%, to 8,909 at 10:29am AEDT. Four of the 11 sectorial indicies opened in the red.
Miners (-1.11%) retreated from prior session gains, with the decline led by Evolution Mining (-2.13%), South32 (-2.92%), Newmont Corporation (-2.71%) and Sandfire Resources (-3.04%).
Neuren Pharmaceuticals (-3.55%) was among the weakest performer at the open, despite receiving meeting feedback from the FDA regarding the development of its NNZ-2591 drug.
However, Amcor (+5.06%) rose for a second consecutive session, after reporting an 89% increase in earnings and reaffirming its full-year growth guidance on Wednesday.
Healthcare (+0.90%) was the strongest perfoming sector at the open, supported by gains in Resmed (+4.41%), Ramsay (+1.04%), Ebos Group (+1.95%) and Nanosonics (+1.04%).
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release international trade in goods data for December at 11:30am AEDT.
Australian shares to open lower after Wall St tech extends losses
The news: Australian shares are set to open lower after Wall Street extended losses for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, driven by concerns over artificial intelligence valuations and growing investor unease that the AI-led rally may have peaked.
The numbers: Updated at 7:51am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 50 points to 8,889.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.68%, S&P 500 down 0.26% and the Nasdaq down 1.15%.
- Europe: CAC 40 up 1.01%, DAX down 0.72% and FTSE 100 up 0.85%.
- Spot gold: down 0.06% to USD4,943 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent up 1.97% to USD68.65/bbl and US WTI up 1.92% to USD64.41/bbl.
- AUD: down 0.37% at 69.95 US cents.
- Bitcoin: down 2.94% to USD73,410.
The context: US indices were mixed on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq trading lower while Dow Jones edged higher. Nasdaq was dragged down by losses in tech stocks, led by Advanced Micro Devices and Palantir, as investors grew more concerned about elevated AI valuations.
AMD tumbled 16.73% after issuing a weaker-than-expected sales outlook for the first quarter, disappointing investors and signalling it is facing challenges competing against rival Nvidia.
Palantir reversed previous session gains, falling 12.46%, despite delivering a stronger-than-expected sales outlook that beat Wall Street estimates.
US software companies have also added to overnight losses amid concerns that rapid AI advancements could disrupt the sector. The sell-off followed the release of updated chatbot technology by Anthropic last week, which heightened fears of AI-driven disruption in the data analytics and professional services industries.
Elsewhere, US ADP's national employment report on Wednesday showed US private payrolls increased by just 22,000 in January, well below economists' expectations of 48,000.
On the data front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release international trade in goods data for December at 11:30am AEDT.
