ASX opens lower after heavy selling in tech stocks
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More news: Australian shares opened lower, with a sharp sell-off in tech stocks dragging the benchmark down.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was down by 17.3 points, or 0.20%, to 8,839 at 10:36am AEDT. Nine of the 11 sectorial indices opened in the red.
Miners (+2.87%) led early gains for a second consecutive session, supported by BHP (+3.69%), Rio Tinto (+3.53%), Northern Star (+5.80%) and South32 (+3.44%).
However, the tech sector (-6.94%) slumped at the open and was among the worst performing sectors, mirroring Wall Street's overnight tech sell-off amid AI valuation concerns. Heavy selling was lead by Wisetech Global (-5.04%), Xero (-11.83%), Technology One (-6.72%) and Megaport (-5.52%).
Synlait Milk (-7.69%) also fell sharply after flagging an expected a first-half net loss of between NZD77 million ($66.4 million) and NZD82 million.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is scheduled to release its chart pack on the Australian economy and financial markets at 11:30am AEDT.
Australian shares to open lower after Wall St tumbles on AI woes
The news: Australian shares are set to open lower after Wall Street tumbled overnight, with investors worried about AI creating more competition for software makers. Investors dumped shares of software companies after a new AI automation tool from Anthropic PBC heightened concerns that their core businesses are at risk of being displaced.
The numbers: Updated at 7:45am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 60 points to 8,760.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.43%, S&P 500 down 1.13% and the Nasdaq down 1.73%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.02%, DAX down 0.07% and FTSE 100 down 0.26%.
- Spot gold: up 6.20% to USD4,948 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent up 2.75% to USD68.14/bbl and US WTI up 3.14% to USD64.04/bbl.
- AUD: up 0.99% at 70.16 US cents.
- Bitcoin: down 3.13% to USD76,191.
The context: All three major US indices traded lower on Tuesday as a significant sell-off among US and European data analytics, professional services, and software companies deepened after AI developer Anthropic launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday, automating tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis functions. The sell-off was sparked as investors became more cautious about AI-related investments, seeking companies that generate measurable returns.
Nasdaq 100 traded 2.4% lower on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 fell 1.6%, with the information technology sector leading the losses.
Elsewhere, Walmart hit a $1 trillion market valuation, marking a milestone as the first retailer to reach this level.
Locally, the RBA is scheduled to release its chart pack on the Australian economy and financial markets at 11:30am AEDT.
