ASX opens lower as DroneShield tanks; GrainCorp, Xero dive on earnings news
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More news: Australian shares edged lower at the open as energy and tech stocks led losses in early trade. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 9.5 points, or 0.11%, to 8,790 at 10:50am AEDT, with eight of the 11 sectoral indices in the red.
DroneShield (-25%) was the worst performer on the ASX 200 after CEO Oleg Vornik sold $49.5 million worth of stock, his entire holding of fully paid ordinary shares.
GrainCorp (-7.8%) also tumbled after reporting a 36% drop in full-year profit. Xero (-3.6%) slumped after its first-half result disappointed.
Materials (+1%) was the best performing segment, as lithium producers IGO (+7.2%) and Liontown Resources (+6.5%) rallied. Gold miners Regis Resources (+5.7%) and Newmont (+3.4%) were also higher.
Australian shares to start higher as Dow rallies on shutdown progress
The news: Australian shares are set to open higher after a mixed session on Wall Street, as the Dow hit a fresh record high while a selldown in tech stocks took the Nasdaq lower.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 22 points, or 0.25%, to 8,823
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.69%, S&P 500 up 0.03% and Nasdaq down 0.47%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 1.04%, DAX up 1.22% and FTSE 100 up 0.12%
- Spot gold: up 1.71% to USD4,197 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 4.01% to USD62.55/bbl and US WTI down 4.45% to USD58.32/bbl
- AUD: up 0.26% at 65.45 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 1.61% to USD101,358.
The context: The Nasdaq fell after megacaps Meta Platforms (-2.6%), Tesla (-2.2%), Amazon (-1.9%) and Alphabet (-1.7%) all tumbled. Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices surged 7.8% after announcing a USD100 billion data centre revenue target.
Elsewhere, the Dow surged to an all-time closing high, marking its fourth straight day of gains. The advance came as investors monitored progress in Washington, where the House of Representatives is expected to approve a spending package on Thursday morning AEDT that will end the US government's record-long shutdown.
In the local market, NextDC, Guzman y Gomez, SGH, Ingenia Communities, Inghams Group, PEXA Group and Computershare are among the companies hosting annual general meetings today.
