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Good afternoon and welcome to the ASX Today. It’s Tuesday of Week 36, and today the Aussie share market is under pressure, with renewed conflict in the Middle East sending oil prices higher and bond yields surging.
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The ASX 200 fell 0.4 per cent, with six of the 11 sectors trading in the red. The move follows a weaker session on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 slipped ever so slightly. The major driver of that is rising geopolitical tension. Renewed strikes in the Middle East have pushed Brent crude towards US$90 a barrel, while US crude climbed above US$86.
That has reignited concerns about inflation, particularly if higher energy costs feed through to consumers and businesses. Bond markets responded sharply, with Australia’s 10-year yield reaching 5.1 per cent.. the highest level since 2011.
Onto some company news – Consumer discretionary stocks are leading the decline. Wesfarmers is down 3.7 per cent, while Harvey Norman has fallen 2.5 per cent. The weakness is also spreading to consumer staples, with Woolworths down 2.9 per cent and Coles off 1 per cent.
Tech stocks are under pressure too, with NextDC down 3.5 per cent and both Block and TechnologyOne falling more than 1.5 per cent. WiseTech Global is flat after announcing former Seven boss Jeff Howard as its new CFO.
Energy is one of today’s few bright spots, benefiting from that higher oil price. Ampol, Woodside and Santos are all up around 1 per cent.
The banks are a little more mixed. Commonwealth Bank is down 0.5 per cent, Westpac and NAB are both 0.3 per cent lower, while Macquarie has dropped 1.3 per cent. ANZ is flat, but Judo Capital is bucking the trend, jumping 7.4 per cent.
CSL has reached something of a milestone today, trading 1.4 per cent higher after signing an agreement with the US administration aimed at reducing medicine costs in America. Larvotto Resources is up 2.7 per cent after launching a new antimony mine in Australia, targeting a larger role in a supply chain currently dominated by China and Russia.
Telix Pharmaceuticals had a bit of an opposite experience today, its shares falling 2.3 per cent after announcing David Gill is its newly appointed chairman, effective immediately.
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