The Australian sharemarket experienced a moderate decline on Monday as renewed trade tensions between the United States and China unsettled investors. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell by 49.5 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 8908.80 around lunchtime AEDT. Ten out of eleven sectors were in negative territory, with technology and energy stocks leading the losses. Michael McCarthy, a market strategist at online trading platform Moomoo, noted that futures markets indicated a difficult trading day for the Asia-Pacific region.
Despite the overall downturn, losses in Australia were somewhat mitigated by the index’s composition, which includes a significant proportion of miners and domestic banks. Additionally, positive signals from Wall Street futures suggested a potential rebound, with E-mini S&P 500 futures projected to rise by 1.1 per cent and Nasdaq futures by 1.6 per cent.
Within the ASX, the tech sector mirrored Wall Street’s Friday performance, declining by 2 per cent. Significant individual stock movements included Life360 shedding 2.5 per cent, WiseTech losing approximately 2.3 per cent, and Computershare decreasing by 3 per cent. Energy stocks also contributed to the downward pressure, despite rising oil prices. However, gold miners bucked the trend as the precious metal reached a new record high of $US4059.30, boosting shares in companies like Regis Resources, Newmont, and Evolution Mining. Rare earths miners also saw gains after the US revived trade war concerns with China due to exports, propelling Lynas to a 14-year high.
In corporate news, Qantas shares declined by 1.7 per cent following a data breach where hackers leaked approximately 5.7 million customer records. Treasury Wines was the biggest loser, with shares plummeting 13 per cent to a decade low after withdrawing earnings guidance and halting a $200 million share buyback. Toro Energy, a mining company focused on uranium development, surged 39 per cent following news that IsoEnergy, a Canadian uranium company, will increase its stake and acquire all remaining shares in a $75 million scheme implementation deal.
