Aussie shares dip ahead of key inflation readout
Near midday on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 29 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 8,666.8, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 35.9 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8,927.6.
Traders may have been taking something off the table ahead of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' release of second-quarter consumer price index data on Wednesday morning.
HSBC chief ANZ economist Paul Bloxham said the bank expects the readout would show the RBA's preferred inflation metric to print at 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 2.7 per cent year-on-year, which HSBC sees as allowing the RBA to trim rates in August.
But if trimmed mean inflation comes in at higher than that, an August rate cut would be less likely, Mr Bloxham said.
In the US, the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee is widely expected to leave rates on hold when it announces its latest decision early on Thursday Australian time, but its commentary will be closely scrutinised for a clue whether a rate cut might be possible in September.
At midday every ASX sector was down except consumer discretionary, which had edged 0.1 per cent higher.
The heavyweight mining sector was the biggest mover, dropping 0.5 per cent, with losses for all of the iron ore giants.
Fortescue had fallen 1.6 per cent, BHP had slid 0.3 per cent and Rio Tinto had dipped 0.2 per cent.
In the energy sector, Viva Energy had fallen 8.0 per cent after the OTR and Reddy Express petrol station owner said a big drop in tobacco sales had led to a 10 per cent decline in overall convenience sales in the first half.
But Woodside was up 1.1 per cent as Australia's largest oil and gas producer announced it would assume operatorship of the offshore Bass Strait production assets it co-owns with ExxonMobil Australia.
Uranium producers were down for a second day, with Paladin dropping 6.7 per cent and Boss Energy falling another 8.3 per cent, on top of Monday's 44 per cent plunge following word of issues at its Honeymoon mine in SA.
In the financial sector, three of the four big retail banks were lower. CBA was down 0.2 per cent, ANZ had slipped 0.6 per cent and Westpac had dropped 0.3 per cent.
NAB was the outlier, very marginally higher at $37.78.
The Australian dollar had slipped further against its strengthening American counterpart, buying 65.28 US cents, from 65.50 US cents at 5pm on Friday.
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