It wasn’t a good start to the week, unsupported by a slight head start on Wall Street and ongoing Covid-19 outbreaks in Australia’s two most populous states. Image: David Swift / NCA NewsWire
The Australian stock market was dragged down by commodity stocks and major banks, while the travel sector was again hit hard by the worsening delta breakout in NSW and Victoria.
The S&P / ASX200 closed 0.85 percent lower at 7286 while the All Ordinaries Index fell 0.93 percent to 7559.7.
CommSec analyst James Tao said it wasn’t a good start to the week, which wasn’t aided by a weak lead on Wall Street and ongoing Covid-19 outbreaks in Australia’s two most populous states.
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The loss follows the ASX gaining 1 percent last week – its best week in seven weeks.
Among the miners, Rio Tinto lost 2.12 percent to $ 127.83, BHP fell 2.64 percent to $ 50.50, and Fortescue fell 1.4 percent to $ 25.42.
Battery technology company Novonix slumped 10 percent to $ 2.61.
OceanaGold fell 4.2 percent to $ 2.51 after it released its preliminary operating results for the June quarter and reported record production at its Haile mine in the US, but its Macraes project in New Zealand disappointed as RBC Capital Markets said the mine’s recent performance jeopardized full year output guidance.
Evolution Mining plunged 8.74 percent to $ 4.28 after brokers downgraded, with Morgan Stanley cutting its price target to $ 4 following the gold producer’s quarterly update last week.
“It missed its production forecast, which has certainly hurt the company’s prospects at the moment,” said Mr. Tao.
In the energy sector, Carnarvon Petroleum slumped 9.09 percent to 25 cents, Santos fell 2.7 percent to $ 6.83, Woodside gave up 1.89 percent to $ 22.33, and Oil Search fell 5 .17 percent to $ 3.67.
Oil Search head Keiran Wulff resigned after less than 18 months at the helm of the PNG-focused oil and gas producer, with the board citing his longstanding health but also saying he had behaved “unacceptably”.
CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said in the afternoon that global oil prices in Asian trade fell more than 1.1 percent after OPEC and its allies agreed on Sunday to increase crude oil production by 400,000 barrels a day from August.
“It’s going to be a volatile week for oil-exposed ASX-listed companies as investors, analysts and traders digest the OPEC announcement,” Felsman said.
“Iran is also expected to resume crude oil exports shortly after the sanctions are lifted, which may hinder supply prospects.
“Of course, concerns remain about the resurgence of coronavirus cases around the world as restrictions resume in Asia.
“However, analysts still anticipate tension in the oil market in the coming months as vaccination rates rise and driver mobility increases.”
Banks were also a huge drag, with ANZ down 1.02 percent to $ 27.15, Commonwealth Bank down 0.52 percent to $ 97.68, and National Australia Bank down 1.19 percent Was down $ 25.65 and Westpac was down 0.88 percent to $ 24.69.
OMG chief Ivan Tchourilov said travel stocks had been badly hit after Victorian Prime Minister Dan Andrews announced the state lockdown would be extended.
“Travel stocks cannot take a break and are constantly in the ‘too hard basket’ as these lockdowns paralyze the travel industry, on which they are obviously heavily leveraged,” said Tchourilov.
Webjet was down 3.26 percent to $ 4.75, Flight Center was down 2.42 percent to $ 14.50, and Qantas was down 1.48 percent to $ 4.65.
Responding to speculation in the press that he was in talks with Greenlit Brands, the owner of Freedom, Fantastic Furniture and Snooze, about buying plush sofas, furniture retailer Nick Scali said he is actively acquiring growth opportunities from time to time And there is no certainty that discussions would lead to a binding transaction.
But if they did, Nick Scali would expect to be able to pay the deal with a combination of cash and debt.
The company’s shares rose 4.17 percent to $ 11.50.
Other strong performers included Domino’s Pizza, up 2.16 percent to $ 120.13, sleep disorder ResMed, up 2.43 percent to $ 34.52, and biotech giant CSL, which is one Up 1.8 percent to $ 282.74.
Telstra was down 0.27 percent to $ 3.76 after it was confirmed it is in talks on a possible acquisition of Digicel Pacific in the South Pacific region with financial and strategic risk management support from the Australian government.
Telstra said Digicel was a commercially attractive asset and vital to telecommunications in the region.
Vulcan Energy Resources, backed by Gina Rinehart, slipped 2.79 percent to $ 9.07 after it signed its first binding sales contract for lithium hydroxide from its project in Germany with LG Energy Solution – the world’s largest manufacturer of lithium ions -Batteries for electric vehicles – had signed.
“The stock has seen extraordinary gains of 20 cents to $ 9 over the past two years and recently hit a valuation of $ 1 billion,” said Tchourilov.
“It is the best-selling and most traded stock in the Openmarkets customer base today.”
The Australian dollar hit 73.83 US cents, 53.66 British pence and 62.53 euro cents in afternoon trading.
