ASX opens lower, Cochlear plunges on Middle East sales impact
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More news: Australian shares opened lower, on par with Wall Street’s overnight decline, as investor sentiment has been dampened by fading prospects for a second round of US-Iran peace talks, following the news that JD Vance’s planned visit to Pakistan was put on hold.
The benchmark ASX 200 was down by 71.5 points, or 0.80% to 8,877 at 10:26am AEST. Six of the 11 sectorial indices opened in the red.
Utilities (+0.74%) was the strongest performing sector at the open, supported by a lift in APA Group (+0.71%), Mercury NZ (+2.08%), AGL Energy (+0.21%) and Fluence Corporation (+2.04%).
Treasury Wine Estates (+16.04%) skyrocketed after flagging another major restructure. The Penfolds business will no longer operate as a stand-alone division.
Ampol (+3.73%), Droneshield (+2.88%), NextDC (+2.24%) and News Corporation (+1.74%) were also among the best performing stocks across the ASX 200 in early trade.
Elsewhere, healthcare (-4.22%) was the weakest performing sector, weighed down by CSL (-1.51%), Sigma Healthcare (-1.23%), Fisher & Paykel (-2.18%) and Resmed (-2%).
Cochlear (-36.49%) plunged after slashing its FY26 earnings guidance on concerns over fourth quarter sales in the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict.
Bank of Queensland (-7.29%) fell after recording a 4% hit in its half year profit citing increased competition.
Generation Development Group (-18.47%), Capstone Copper (-4.85%), Pantoro Gold (-4.35%) and Iperionx (-4.20%) were also among the worst performing stocks across the ASX 200.
Australian shares to open lower as US-Iran talks stall
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower after Wall Street closed down on Tuesday, as uncertainty over the US-Iran conflict weighed on investor sentiment, with Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of talks put on hold.
The numbers: Updated at 8:00am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 70 points to 8,886 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.59%, S&P 500 down 0.63%, Nasdaq down 0.59%
- Europe: FTSE 100 down 1.05%, CAC 40 down 1.14%, DAX down 0.60%
- Spot gold: down 2% to USD4,724.57 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 3.35% to USD98.68/barrel, US WTI up 2.86% to USD89.95/bbl
- AUD: down 0.35% at 71.53 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.39% to USD75,591
The context: All three major US indices closed lower on Tuesday as investors weighed uncertainty over the resumption of US-Iran peace talks, after reports that Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of negotiations was put on hold due to Tehran’s lack of response to US positions, according to the NYT.
Iran also told mediators its delegation would not leave Tehran on Tuesday to engage in talks until the US lifts its blockade, according to WSJ, as the US continued restriction on Iranian ports in response to Iran’s attempts to disrupt maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has since extended the US ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, hours before it was due to expire, saying on Truth Social that Pakistan had requested a delay to planned attacks. He added the ceasefire would remain in place until Iran’s “leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.”
S&P 500 futures moved 0.38% higher after Trump’s announcement.
On the data front, the US Commerce Department showed retail sales rose 1.7% in March, above the 1.4% forecast of economists polled by Reuters, with higher gasoline prices driving a surge in receipts at service stations.
In equities, Apple fell 2.52% after announcing that CEO Tim Cook would step down and be succeeded by hardware engineering chief John Ternus.
Locally, the Melbourne Institute will release its leading index for March at 10:30am AEST.
