Source : the age
Australia’s sharemarket has started the week lower as trading volumes plunged and investors awaited the next market-moving catalyst.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 13.4 points on Monday, down 0.15 per cent, to 8831, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 11.3 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 9037.
With the financial year-end behind investors and a quiet week ahead for local and global macroeconomic data, trading volumes fell to below half their daily average in an unconvincing session.
“Volumes are terrible. Traders are tapping the screen, saying, ‘Is this thing on?’” Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said.
“We got through the data last week, there’s no reporting going on at the moment, but it’ll start up soon and there’s very little data this week, and with things quietening down on the geopolitical front, there really isn’t too much to serve the markets.”
Banks, miners and major supermarkets dragged, while energy, healthcare, consumer discretionary and technology stocks made decent gains.
The gold sector largely handed back an early advance as the precious metal eased to $US4153 an ounce during the session, although Vault Minerals was the top 200’s best performer after receiving a $5.6 billion takeover bid from Genesis Minerals.
Mega miners were mixed, with BHP falling 0.8 per cent to $60.02, while Rio Tinto traded flat and Fortescue improved 0.9 per cent to $18.52, despite facing a class action over alleged workplace misconduct including claims of sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
Rare earths and battery minerals copper producers were broadly lower as metals prices eased against a recovering greenback.
Energy stocks advanced as oil prices crept higher during the session, despite OPEC+ agreeing to increase its output in August.
Woodside and Santos gained more than 0.8 per cent, while refinery operator Viva Energy rose almost 0.5 per cent to $2.15 after launching a sustainable aviation fuel storage and blending facility at its Pinkenba Terminal that will deliver jet fuel directly to Brisbane Airport.
The heavyweight financials sector lost more than 0.3 per cent as Westpac led three of the big four banks into the red, while NAB edged higher.
Tech and healthcare stocks outperformed the broader market, with each sector offering apparent value after months of declines.
Woolworths weighed on the consumer staples segment, which fell 0.6 per cent despite strong performances from A2 Milk and Elders.
On the discretionary side, rallies in Wef and Light & Wonder helped ballast weak sessions for JB Hi-Fi, Eagers Automotive and Premier Investments.
The Australian dollar is buying US69.28¢, down from US69.48¢ on Friday at 5pm AEST.
The S&P 500 finished last week virtually unchanged and edged up by less than 0.1 per cent, even though seven out of every 10 stocks within the index rose. The Dow jumped 594 points, or 1.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8 per cent after erasing an early gain.
The gains mark the latest turn in a stretch of choppy trading as markets grapple with whether the second quarter’s AI-driven rally has gone too far. With stocks recovering after a two-day rout in chipmakers, investors are waiting for the upcoming earnings season as the next signal of whether massive spending on AI infrastructure can translate into profits.
“The fundamentals are still very, very strong and the market is still underpricing them,” Tim Moe, equity strategist at Goldman Sachs said. “There still is a lot longer to go in the overall positive profit environment for memory stocks and the AI hardware supply chain space overall.”
Worries that persistent inflation pressures would leave the Fed little choice but to tighten policy have subsided in recent days, with oil prices easing and an unexpectedly sharp slowdown in US labor market growth.
“Unless and until we see clearer signs that the energy spike has filtered its way through to underlying inflation, we think that the Fed will opt for a cautious approach to policy tightening,” noted Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury.
AAP with Bloomberg, AP
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
