The Australian sharemarket has suffered its worst week since 2020 after the financial sector was hit with a 9 per cent weekly slump. The market was under renewed pressure today, with all sectors closing in the red. Real estate led the fall, down 2.9 per cent, followed by energy, consumer discretionary and financials. The sector with the fewest losses was health care, down 0.3 per cent.
At the closing bell, the ASX 200 was 1.3 per cent or 88 points lower at 6,932. Over the week, it closed 4.4 per cent or 307 points lower, its worst week since April 2020.
The best performer in the ASX 200 was Xero
(ASX:XRO), up 4 per cent to $82.93. This was followed by Healius
(ASX:HLS), up 2.7 per cent to $3.86, and James Hardie Industries
(ASX:JHX), up 1.9 per cent to $34.94.
The worst performer in the ASX 200 was PointsBet
(ASX:PBH), down 5.8 per cent to $2.28. This was followed by Sims
(ASX:SGM), down 5.8 per cent to $17.39 and Lynas Rare Earths
(ASX:LYC), down 5.7 per cent to $8.57.
Despite a rebound this morning, major banks fell as markets continued to digest the fallout from the Reserve Bank’s interest rate hike this week. Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA) fell 1.2 per cent to $93.78, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) dropped 1.5 per cent to $20.85, ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) declined 1.2 per cent to $23.07 and NAB
(ASX:NAB) closed 0.7 per cent lower at $28.06.
Weaker commodity prices, the threat of higher energy prices and a dire warning for aluminium were all factors that weighed on resource stocks.
Woodside Energy
(ASX:WDS) led the energy circle lower, down 1.6 per cent to $34.82. Santos
(ASX:STO) fell 1.5 per cent to $8.53 and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) closed 1.1 per cent lower at $1.86.
Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) weighed on iron ore miners, down 1.3 per cent to $115.90. Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) dipped 0.5 per cent to $21.45, while BHP
(ASX:BHP) closed flat at $46.22.
Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) led gold stocks lower, down 2.2 per cent to $3.50. Northern Star
(ASX:NST) fell 1.9 per cent to $8.32 and Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) closed 1.4 per cent lower at $23.42.
Company newsAtlas Arteria
(ASX:ALX) rejected a request from IFM to access non-public and confidential information about the company and its assets for the purpose of developing a formal takeover proposal. Shares closed 0.5 per cent higher at $8.19.
Bubs Australia
(ASX:BUB) advised that its entire shipment of infant formula to the US will be purchased by two US infant formula retailers, The Kroger Co and Albertsons. Shares closed 9.2 per cent higher at 65 cents.
Telix Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:TLX) and RefleXion Medical signed a co-development agreement to expand the use of Telix’s prostate cancer treatment (Illuccix®). Shares closed 0.3 per cent lower at $4.05.
Terracom
(ASX:TER) shareholders are set to expect its first dividend for this financial year after the company informed investors of a repayment of a US$167 million Euroclear Bond. Shares closed 2.6 per cent higher at 80 cents.
Medallion Metals
(ASX:MM8) were placed in trading halt pending an announcement in relation to a mineral resource update for the company’s Ravensthorpe gold project. Shares last traded at 29 cents on Thursday.
Air New Zealand
(ASX:AIA) narrowed its FY22 loss after seeing improved passenger volumes on short haul and international flights, following the opening of the NZ border. Shares closed 0.7 per cent lower at $6.91.
AGL Energy
(ASX:AGL) completed a technical assessment of the work needed to return Loy Yang A Unit 2 to service, and expects the outage to extend until the second half of September. Shares closed 0.4 per cent lower at $8.72.
Chorus
(ASX:CNU) lowered its FY22 capital expenditure guidance to reflect the ongoing constraints Covid has had on fibre installations and other network investment activity. Shares closed 0.3 per cent lower at $6.45.
Tower
(ASX:TWR) is set to sell its Papua New Guinea subsidiary to Alpha Insurance for $7.9 million. Shares are trading 2.5 per cent higher at 62 cents. Shares closed 1.7 per cent higher at 61 cents.
Appliance maker Breville Group
(ASX:BRG) reconfirmed that it expects full year EBIT to be in line with previous guidance and market consensus of about $156 million. Shares closed 0.7 per cent higher at $18.13.
The Western Australian Government approved Blackstone’s proposed acquisition of Crown
(ASX:CWN), including Crown Perth. Shares closed 0.5 per cent higher at $13.06.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 45 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 10 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 56 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 88 points when the market next opens.
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has lost 1.4 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 0.03 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 1.1 per cent.
Wall StreetOver the last four trading days, the Dow Jones lost 1.9 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 2.3 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 2.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1845.12 an ounce.
Iron ore is 2.1 per cent lower at US$143.85 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 0.6 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.26 lower at US$109.25 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.22 US cents.
That’s a wrap for the week, see you next Tuesday!
