ASX lowers as energy stocks lead losses; gold miners rally
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More news: Australian shares edged lower at the open, as energy and tech stocks fell, while gold miners made up most of the best performers.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 7.7 points, or 0.09%, to 8,654.3 at 10:30am AEST. Six of the 11 sectoral indices were in negative territory.
Energy stocks retreated 1.2% as global crude benchmarks lowered after the eight OPEC+ members agreed on Sunday to lift output in September. Woodside dropped 1.9%.
Gold miners made up eight of the top 10 performing ASX 200 companies, with Bellevue Gold (+5.5%), Westgold Resources (+3.6%) and Northern Star Resources (+3.3%) leading the rally.
Dan Murphy's and BWS operator Endeavour Group climbed 4% despite announcing the abrupt departure of executive chair Ari Mervis due to disagreements with the board. Oil and gas explorer Beach Energy added 3.5% after trimming its full-year loss.
Australian shares to open lower as US jobs data rocks Wall Street
The news: Australian shares are poised to open lower after sharp losses on Wall Street on Friday, as new data showed a shock slowdown in US hiring.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 32 points to 8,587 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 1.23%, S&P 500 down 1.60% and Nasdaq down 2.24%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 2.91%, DAX down 2.66% and FTSE 100 down 0.70%
- Spot gold: up 2.24% to USD3,363 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.22% to USD69.52/bbl and US WTI down 0.10% to USD67.26/bbl
- AUD: up 0.64% to 64.65 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.08% to USD114,520.
The context: US President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labour Statics, Erika McEntarfer, after new data showed a surprise slowdown in US hiring. Trump claimed the July jobs numbers were rigged to make him look bad, then ordered that McEntarfer be fired immediately.
The data helped push US stocks lower on Friday, with major banks falling on fears that a slowing economy could hit loan growth. Bank of America and Wells Fargo both fell more than 3%, while JPMorgan Chase lost more than 2%.
This week will see more second-quarter earnings in the US, with the likes of Disney, McDonald's and Caterpillar due to report.
Earnings season also kicks off in the local market this week, with results expected from REA Group, AMP, News Corp, Nick Scali, QBE Insurance and Block.
The source: Reuters
