Aussie shares sink as miners drag and Mirvac plunges
The market selloff might not be over just yet.
The S&P/ASX200 at midday on Thursday had erased nearly all of its modest gains of the past two days, coming close to breaching the 10-week low set on Monday, as earnings season kicked off in earnest.
The benchmark index was down 38.6 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7,661.2, while the broader All Ordinaries had dropped 40.3 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 7,872.8.
Overnight the S&P500 fell 0.8 per cent after soft demand for a US Treasury Department $US42 billion sale of 10-year notes, sending yields higher.
Five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were lower at midday, four were higher and health care and telecommunications were basically flat.
Property was the biggest mover, dropping 2.0 per cent as Mirvac tumbled 9.0 per cent to a one-month low of $1.92 on a disappointing earnings report.
The developer, investor and fund manager reported a five per cent fall in net operating profit to $552 million for the year to June 30.
“While market conditions are likely to remain challenging in 2024/25, we are setting ourselves up for recovery,” group chief executive Campbell Hanan said.
On the flip side, AMP rose 9.7 per cent to a 10-month high of $1.24 after the financial services company posted a small rise in overall profit despite a hit to the banking division from a housing market slowdown.
“We have made good progress this half on our key strategic commitments, and we have positive momentum heading into the second half of the year,” AMP chief executive Alexis George said.
Transurban was down 1.4 per cent to $12.70 as the toll operator forecast it would increase its dividend by five per cent this financial year, after growing its 2023/24 operating earnings by 7.5 per cent to $2.6 billion.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was down 2.3 per cent to a 21-month low of $40.07, with the Big Australian’s fall accounting for around half of the ASX200’s losses.
Rio Tinto had dropped 2.3 per cent to a two-week low of $114.03 and Fortescue had fallen 0.6 per cent to $18.33.
West African Resources was down 11.1 per cent to a four-month low of $1.24 after Burkina Faso, where the company operates, adopted a new mining code aimed at increasing the mining sector’s contribution to the West African country.
Other goldminers were also in the red as the yellow metal changed hands at $US2,390 an ounce, with Newmont falling 3.1 per cent and Northern Star dropping 2.7 per cent.
All of the Big Four banks were higher, with NAB up 1.3 per cent, ANZ climbing 1.0 per cent and Westpac and CBA both rising 0.6 per cent.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.53 US cents, from 65.39 US cents at Wednesday’s ASX close.
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