Australian shares retreat from record levels
Near noon on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had given up three-quarters of Friday's gains, dropping 86.1 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 8,671.1, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 82.4 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 8,921.8.
Investors' attention would be fully captured by stocks this week as US company reporting season hit full stride and a number of important Australian companies addressed shareholders, Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said.
It might be a hectic week for markets, he added, with a number of US Federal Reserve board members speaking publicly, the release of New Zealand inflation data as well as a gauge of Australian and US business activity known as the purchasing manager index.
At midday, nine of the ASX's 11 sectors were in the red, with energy and materials up marginally.
The financial sector was the biggest loser, dropping 1.8 per cent.
ANZ had fallen 2.3 per cent, Westpac was down 3.1 per cent, CBA had retreated 2.0 per cent and NAB had fallen 2.2 per cent.
But AMP was up 8.8 per cent to a five-month high of $1.67 after the financial services company said it had recorded its first quarter of positive cashflows into its superannuation business since the second quarter of 2017, when it was scrutinised by the financial services royal commission.
"This reflects our continued efforts to build a compelling member proposition which is delivering outstanding investment returns, service and education," said CEO Alexis George.
In the heavyweight mining sector, Rio Tinto was up 1.5 per cent, Fortescue had added 1.2 per cent and BHP had edged 0.1 per cent higher.
South32 was up 3.6 per cent following its quarterly operating report.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.04 US cents, from 65.02 US cents at 5pm on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
5 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Warning issued as Microsoft targeted in global cyberattack
Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood says an urgent warning has been issued to Australian companies and organisations that use Microsoft's content management platform SharePoint. The Australian Cyber Security Centre is urging organisations to "act now" after Microsoft observed active attacks targeting on-premises SharePoint Server customers. 'The danger is that hackers are exploiting a vulnerability in SharePoint that can be used to steal sensitive data and remotely execute malicious code,' Mr Greenwood said. 'The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported evidence of active exploitation on Sunday.'
Sky News AU
5 hours ago
- Sky News AU
ASX 200 lifts on Tuesday after Wall Street surges to new highs
Sky News Business Reporter Edward Boyd says the local market started the day up about 0.5 per cent in early trade after Wall Street markets surged to new records overnight. 'But then the selling began, investors banking their profits,' Mr Boyd said. 'Apart from the banks – energy stocks, industrials and retailers – they were all sold off. Health care companies and mining stocks jumped.' The ASX 200 recovered and finished up 0.10 per cent on Tuesday.
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Closing Bell: Resource stocks win ASX tug of war as market ends flat
Iron ore surges to four-month highs at US$104/tonne Gold lifts 1.4pc to five-week high Banks mostly lower as profit taking continues Resource gains outweigh bank sell down It was a veritable tug of war on the ASX today as surging resources stocks went to war with floundering banking shares and managed to snatch victory right at the last second. The ASX lifted just 9 points or 0.1%, struggling into positive territory in the last ten minutes of trade. The sell down in major banking stocks continued throughout the day, undercutting the resource sector's momentum. Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) was hit hard, down another 3%. NAB (ASX:NAB) also took a sizeable whack, shedding 2.69% while the rest of the top 7 fell between 1.27% and 0.34%. The exceptions were Macquarie (ASX:MQG) which added 0.23%, and QBE (ASX:QBE), which tipped up 0.22%. Iron ore and gold were the champions of the materials sector and the greater market today, clawing higher on rising commodity prices despite a day of choppy trading that trended mostly negative. Healthcare also put in an excellent showing, with several mid and small cap stocks climbing. Botanix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:BOT) jumped 9.6% and Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) 7%. Still, it was iron and gold miners that topped the gainers lists today. More on the iron gang in a second. Pantoro Gold (ASX:PNR) jumped 12%, West African Resources (ASX:WAF) 8% and Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) 7.9%. Is the iron ore rally sustainable? Iron ore prices shot up to four-month highs overnight, hurdling the US$100 per tonne mark to sit at US$104.1 presently. News of a new megaproject out of China was the core driver of the push higher – Beijing intends to invest 1.2 trillion yuan ($260 billion) in a hydropower dam on the Tibetan Plateau. Iron ore miners are chomping at the bit to get a piece of the action. BHP (ASX:BHP) jumped 2.3%, Fortescue (ASX:FMG) 3%, and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) 3.3%. Unfortunately, analysts are warning iron ore's latest bullish run doesn't reflect market fundamentals. Market moguls at Citigroup and UBS reckon the iron market is trending toward oversupply. Rio Tinto's Simandour project is set to ramp up production to 48 million tonnes of iron ore per year by 2028, accounting for about 5% of global supply all on its lonesome. UBS reckons the iron ore market will be in surplus by 100 million tonnes by 2027 at current rates. "The sustainability of current prices depends largely on whether China's promised policy support materialises in the form of actual construction activity and steel demand," Westpac (ASX:WBC) acting chief sustainability officer and commodities strategist Michael Chen said. "Without concrete demand increases, the fundamental case for $100+ iron ore becomes difficult to justify." ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS Today's best performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.012 300% 7074192 $5,118,900 PAB Patrys Limited 0.002 100% 1540555 $2,365,810 VR8 Vanadium Resources 0.041 78% 42838618 $12,978,713 MPA Mad Paws 0.13 73% 36137123 $30,468,169 CUL Cullen Resources 0.006 50% 247093 $2,773,607 AS2 Askarimetalslimited 0.016 45% 19518384 $4,445,878 LMG Latrobe Magnesium 0.016 45% 17547486 $28,892,490 ALR Altairminerals 0.004 33% 15049123 $12,890,233 FAU First Au Ltd 0.004 33% 1206788 $6,228,874 SHP South Harz Potash 0.004 33% 56178 $3,849,186 KGD Kula Gold Limited 0.009 29% 16412263 $6,448,776 BIT Biotron Limited 0.0025 25% 619581 $2,654,492 FHS Freehill Mining Ltd. 0.005 25% 50000 $13,655,414 MMR Mec Resources 0.005 25% 155000 $7,399,063 TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.0025 25% 11279067 $20,444,766 GLL Galilee Energy Ltd 0.011 22% 2306250 $6,364,736 AAU Antilles Gold Ltd 0.006 20% 2098629 $11,895,340 AOK Australian Oil. 0.003 20% 473088 $2,594,457 AON Apollo Minerals Ltd 0.006 20% 12688298 $4,642,284 OLI Oliver'S Real Food 0.006 20% 83366 $2,703,660 PRM Prominence Energy 0.003 20% 200000 $1,216,176 SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.006 20% 1443673 $1,157,350 TFL Tasfoods Ltd 0.006 20% 334313 $2,185,478 NTI Neurotech Intl 0.025 19% 3221353 $22,042,060 WMG Western Mines 0.285 19% 297333 $23,229,203 In the news… The ASX has hit the emergency breaks on iSynergy Group (ASX:IS3), slapping the marketing platform with a 'Please explain' and a trading halt after the company's shares surged 300% intraday. Management says it's working on a response to the ASX's query and expects to be out of suspension by Thursday, but no other details were forthcoming. Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) has locked in a two-year DSO offtake deal with China Precious Asia Limited for vanadium-rich magnetite, agreeing to supply 100,000 metric tonnes of direct shipping ore per month. The deal hinges on two things; the official start of mining operations at the Steelpoortdrift vanadium project and the two parties finalising pricing terms by the end of August. Mad Paws (ASX:MPA) has entered a scheme implementation deed, agreeing to be acquired by Rover Group, Inc at $0.14 per share. The deal values Mad Paws at about $62m. Separately, MPA is offloading its online e-commerce division under the Pet Chemist brand for about $13m in cash consideration. Digital content provider Streamplay Studio (ASX:SP8) is climbing on some solid quarterly results that saw the gaming company achieve a cash flow positive quarter, operating on a surplus of $390k. SP8 cashed customer receipts totalling $1.44m, maintaining cash reserves of $7.7m despite investments in its game development studio Noodlecake Studios, the studio behind mobile games Super Flappy Golf and Sacre Bleu. ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS Today's worst performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap AUH Austchina Holdings 0.001 -50% 37338 $6,050,767 MIOR Macarthur Minerals 0.002 -33% 16728 $299,498 PFM Platformo Ltd 0.055 -29% 33012 $7,307,939 GTR Gti Energy Ltd 0.003 -25% 9682499 $14,835,762 PKO Peako Limited 0.002 -20% 4801244 $3,719,355 PRX Prodigy Gold NL 0.002 -20% 28500 $15,875,278 RLG Roolife Group Ltd 0.004 -20% 4598095 $7,963,906 BEL Bentley Capital Ltd 0.009 -18% 5658 $837,407 SFM Santa Fe Minerals 0.285 -17% 115914 $25,122,482 ALY Alchemy Resource Ltd 0.005 -17% 307081 $7,068,458 AMS Atomos 0.005 -17% 179652 $7,290,111 SIS Simble Solutions 0.005 -17% 525549 $6,493,982 SKK Stakk Limited 0.005 -17% 548791 $12,450,478 UNT Unith Ltd 0.005 -17% 8994656 $8,872,713 TOU Tlou Energy Ltd 0.021 -16% 25000 $32,464,608 LOC Locatetechnologies 0.11 -15% 1468361 $30,572,664 ANR Anatara Ls Ltd 0.006 -14% 14000 $1,493,686 BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.006 -14% 1053411 $12,956,815 BYH Bryah Resources Ltd 0.006 -14% 7203753 $6,789,675 CMO Cosmometalslimited 0.019 -14% 209990 $7,086,984 NWM Norwest Minerals 0.013 -13% 25694 $14,525,378 FXG Felix Gold Limited 0.17 -13% 1812100 $85,582,148 ATS Australis Oil & Gas 0.007 -13% 110000 $10,544,500 NAE New Age Exploration 0.0035 -13% 617716 $10,823,646 WEC White Energy Company 0.035 -13% 94 $12,464,796 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Legacy Minerals (ASX:LGM) has kicked off a 10,000m diamond drilling campaign at its Fontenoy platinum group elements and copper-gold project in NSW. Trading Halts American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) – cap raise I Synergy Group (ASX:IS3) – ASX price query Octava Minerals (ASX:OCT) – cap raise Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) – cap raise West Coast Silver (ASX:WCE) – cap raise
