ASX loses ground after Wall Street and European markets start 2024 with losses and rate fears
Australia's markets lost ground on Wednesday after Wall Street and European indices posted losses on their first day of trade in the new year.
Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.
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By Emilia Terzon
Numbers updated at 4.43pm AEDT
By Gareth Hutchens
To wrap things up, the ASX200 lost 1.37% in value today.
Yesterday, the index closed just shy of a record-high. But after losses on Wall Street overnight, the negative sentiment carried into Australia's session today and it saw the market drop by 104 points.
Thanks for joining us today.
We'll be back tomorrow. Take care.
By Gareth Hutchens
But looking at the top and bottom 10 movers today, you'll see that big insurers bucked the trend.
QBE Insurance gained 1.02% and Suncorp Group gained 0.73%, while health insurers Medibank Private (+1.68%) and NIB (+0.95%) also did well.
By Gareth Hutchens
Every sector lost value today, in the aggregate.
By Gareth Hutchens
By Gareth Hutchens
Trading's finished for the day, and it looks like the ASX has lost 104.6 points (-1.37%). to finish at 7,523.2 points.
By Gareth Hutchens
“I couldn’t if I tried”!
– Cath
By Gareth Hutchens
And by the way, if you think cricket scores don't belong in a markets blog, here's what the Reuters news feed looked like half an hour ago:
By Gareth Hutchens
Pat Cummins now has 4 wickets after getting Sajid Khan out for 15.
Pakistan are 7-220.
It means Cummins has got 14 wickets in three innings (and the third innings isn't over). Not bad at all.
By Gareth Hutchens
Aaaaaaaaawwwwwww…They. Are. Graphs.
– Natty
The RBA says the chart pack contains … graphs.
By Gareth Hutchens
The RBA released its latest chart park today.
It's a pack of charts that tells stories about with economy with …. charts.
Inflation is still falling in the US, Euro area, and Japan.
And in Australia:
Consumer sentiment in Australia has picked up ever-so-slightly recently, but it's still in bad shape:
Housing loan commitments have picked up for investors and owner-occupiers recently, despite the rapid interest rate hikes:
By Gareth Hutchens
Suncorp shares have risen after the insurer updated the market on the financial cost of weather events on Australia's east coast in recent months.
It updated the market at 12.41pm.
As of last night, approximately 19,000 customers have been impacted by weather events on the east coast, with the majority of those customers in Queensland.
Suncorp says at this stage it expects the claims will be within its natural hazard allowance of $680 million for the half year to December 2023.
Steve Johnston, Suncorp Group chief executive, said he visited customers and Suncorp teams on the ground in the Gold Coast and Cairns, and he'd seen the damage that had occurred.
"While the damage I have seen across both the South East and Far North of Queensland has been significant and the recovery will take time, we have our teams and full supply chains mobilised and in action," he said.
"These storms have been a reminder of the devastating impact of extreme weather and our deepest condolences to all those who have lost family and friends.
"I also want to thank everyone involved in the ongoing response and recovery who have rolled up their sleeves to help the community in a time of need – including our partners, the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian SES," he said.
By Gareth Hutchens
Suncorp Group, one of Australia's biggest insurers, has updated the stock exchange on the number of insurance claims it has received since the end of November.
As of last night, approximately 19,000 customers have been impacted by weather events on the East Coast.
The weather events have impacted Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, including ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
Queensland has been hardest hit, with 12,500 total claims (which includes 9,500 home claims) with more expected as the full impact of recent flooding becomes known.
Suncorp says it is too early to provide a total forecast cost of these events because they're still ongoing, but at this stage it expects to be within its natural hazard allowance of $680 million for the half year to December 2023. Its natural hazard allowance for the FY24 is $1.36 billion.
By Emilia Terzon
Endeavour Group is leading the pack, after it announced that its chairman is standing down and is being replaced.
By Emilia Terzon
The local gold sub-index has dropped as much as 2.4%. That is its lowest level since December 18.
Gold entered 2024 under pressure from a jump in the US dollar.
In Australia, Gold Road Resources, St Barbara and Resolute Mining are leading the losses on the sub-index to lose 7.9%, 4.9% and 4.4%, respectively.
Sector leaders Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining fell over 3%, respectively.
This is after the sub-index rose 24.5% in 2023.
By Emilia Terzon
The ASX 200 and All Ords are now both down 1.1%.
The broad-based selling is being led by financial and commodity stocks.
It is tracking markets globally on waning investor optimism around the expected timeline of US interest rate cuts, which comes ahead of a key jobs print later in the week.
A Reuters poll shows economists expect 168,000 jobs were created in the US last month, indicating a robust job market in the world's largest economy.
This is adding to the argument against the need for rate cuts as early as March.
In Australia, rate-sensitive financial stocks dropped 0.7%, with the Big 4 falling between 0.7% and 1%.
Heavyweight miners lost 1.2%, as copper prices were under pressure due to a stronger US dollar.
Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto fell 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively.
Gold stocks declined 2.1% on sliding bullion prices and dollar strength.
By Emilia Terzon
Australia's Fortescue Ltd says multiple iron ore cars had been derailed from the company's tracks on Saturday at its Western Australia operations.
Local media have already been reporting that the Fortescue rail line into Port Hedland, Australia’s iron ore export epicentre, remained out of action on Tuesday.
"The incident did not impact December or H1 shipped tonnes. Normal rail operations will be up and running tomorrow (Thursday)," a Fortescue spokesperson told Reuters today.
Shares in the world's fourth-largest iron-ore maker dipped 1.1%, at A$29.06, by 2315 GMT in tandem with a nearly 1% fall in the broader mining sub-index.
The mining giant did not say how many wagons were involved in the derailment.
The company said it had started an investigation into the cause of the incident.
No injuries were reported, Fortescue added.
By Emilia Terzon
Some news about a stock you might not have heard about.
Shares in Viridis Mining and Minerals (VMM) have risen 11.9% in the new year.
They're currently at $1.66 after a 25% gain overall since November 20.
It comes after the Australian critical minerals explorer announced it has found high-grade rare earth elements from maiden auger and diamond drilling at the Capao da Onça prospect in Brazil.
It says its first set of results at Capao da Onça show the highest grades reported to date.
Since then, more than 538,400 shares have changed hands, compared with the 30-day average volume of about 608,600 shares.
By Emilia Terzon
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is currently 0.89% below its 52-week high.
By Emilia Terzon
Endeavour Group's chairman Peter Hearl has resigned and will be replaced by Ari Mervis, the ASX-listed company has just told the sharemarket.
Mr Hearl took the company through its demerger from Woolworths in 2021, which has seen it spun out as its own separate alcohol company.
As well as being a drinks retailer, Endeavour operates hotels and pokie machines.
Mr Mervis is the current chairman of Myer and McPherson's, and was previously the executive chair of Accolade Wines.
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ASX loses ground after Wall Street and European markets start 2024 with losses and rate fears – ABC News
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