ASX opens flat as CSL selloff offsets mining gains
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More news: Australian shares opened roughly flat as a continued selloff in biotech giant CSL offset gains in the mining sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 9.9 points, or 0.11%, to 9,003 at 10:30am AEDT.
Six of the 11 sectoral indices were in negative territory, as CSL's slide dragged the healthcare segment down 1.6%.
CSL fell a further 3.2% after shedding 15% on Tuesday, following downgrades to its full-year forecasts.
Uranium miners Boss Energy (+14.3%), Paladin Energy (+12.3%) and Deep Yellow (+10.2%) were the three top performers on the ASX 200. They were followed by retailer Nick Scali (+9.6%), PPE manufacturer Ansell (+5.8%) and hotel booking platform SiteMinder (+4%), which all delivered positive trading updates this morning.
Australian shares to rise after Nvidia paces Wall Street rally
The news: Australian shares are set to lift at the open after all three major US stock indices hit record closing highs for the third straight session, as shares in tech megacap Nvidia surged on news that it will build AI supercomputers for the US energy department.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 17 points, or 0.18% to 9,028
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.34%, S&P 500 up 0.27% and Nasdaq up 0.80%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.27%, DAX down 0.12% and FTSE 100 up 0.44%
- Spot gold: down 0.64% to USD3,956 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 2.07% at USD64.26/bbl and US WTI down 2.19% to USD59.99/bbl
- AUD: up 0.45% at 65.88 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 1.15% to USD112,776.
The context: Nvidia shares jumped 5% after chief executive Jensen Huang confirmed that his company will build seven supercomputers for the US Department of Energy.
Huang also announced that Nvidia will make a USD1 billion ($1.5 billion) equity investment in Nokia to target the AI communications market.
Microsoft (+2%) rallied after striking a new deal with OpenAI that will see the tech giant receive a 27% stake, worth around USD135 billion, in the ChatGPT owner.
Investors are looking ahead to third-quarter earnings from Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta Platforms this week, as well as the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's current policy meeting.
In the local market, Ansell, Data3, Nick Scali and Dexus are among the companies holding annual general meetings today.
