ASX shares open lower; Block, Macquarie and Qantas slide on earnings news
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More news: Australian shares edged down at the open as a sharp selloff in tech stocks offset broad gains across the market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 3.1 points, or 0.04%, at 10:30am AEDT. Nine of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory, as the tech segment shed 1.1%.
Afterpay owner Block was the worst performer on the ASX 200, diving 13.8% after reporting its quarterly results. Fellow tech stocks Life360 (-3.3%), WiseTech Global (-2.2%), and Technology One (-1.9%) were also lower.
Elsewhere, trading updates sent shares in Macquarie Group (-4.4%) and Qantas (-2.9%) down, but boosted AUB Group (+9.7%) and News Corp (+5.5%).
Australian shares to slip as jobs data, valuation fears weigh on Wall St
The news: Australian shares are poised to open lower after Wall Street resumed its tech selloff from Wednesday as investors responded to heightened economic uncertainty and bloated valuations.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 6 points to 8,817
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.58%, S&P 500 down 0.76% and Nasdaq down 1.29%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 1.36%, DAX down 1.31% and FTSE 100 down 0.42%
- Spot gold: up 0.08% to USD3,983 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.03% to USD63.50/bbl and US WTI down 0.14% to USD59.52/bbl
- AUD: up 0.28% at 64.86 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 2.58% to USD101,228.
The context: All three major Wall Street indices closed lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbling around 1.3% as AI-related stocks bore the brunt dampened investor sentiment.
The selloff came as executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released data showing the largest October job cuts in more than 20 years. The data — closely watched in the absence of government figures due to the ongoing shutdown — found that cost cutting and AI-related initiatives were among the top reasons for the job cuts.
In earnings news, food delivery company DoorDash (-16.7%) and cosmetics maker Elf Beauty (-35.6%) tanked after releasing their third-quarter results. Snapchat owner Snap (+11%) rallied after topping estimates.
In the local market, Qantas and Nine Entertainment are set to host their annual general meetings today.
