ASX200 dips lower on Wednesday’s trading day on energy, iron ore falls

The Australian sharemarket edged lower in a cautious day of trading on Wednesday following weeks of political and market upheaval.

The benchmark ASX200 dipped 7.4 points, or 0.09 per cent, to settle at 7963.7, while the broader All Ordinaries index edged down 3.1 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 8205.5.

Tech stocks lifted 0.28 per cent to finish at 3125.6.

Eight on 11 industry sectors ended in the red, propelled by a 1.6 per cent fall in real estate and a 1.1 per cent drop in energy.

Real estate titan Goodman Group lost 2.1 per cent to $35.25 a share while Stockland shed 2 per cent to $4.42.

Energy stocks suffered as oil prices continue to weaken, with WTI crude shedding 1.8 per cent to hit US$76.96 a barrel.

Woodside Energy lost 1.05 per cent to $27.24, Santos fell 0.75 per cent to $7.90 and Beach Energy tumbled 3.31 per cent to $1.46.

Iron ore prices are also down, hitting US$100 a tonne for a 25 per cent decline year-to-date, but the big miners still booked a positive session.

BHP edged up 0.24 per cent to $41.56, Rio Tinto climbed 0.54 per cent to $114.43 and Fortescue lifted 0.52 per cent to $21.32.

Wednesday’s relatively flat trading follows an extended period of swings on local and global markets.

eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said investors could be “sitting on the sidelines” to digest some of the chaos and prepare for upcoming risk events.

“We have some big earnings report coming up over the next few days and also we’ve had a big start to the week in terms of political news and that often sees investors go a little risk off,” he said.

“We’ve seen some moves in the dollar and gold and investors might be sitting on the sidelines a little but to see how the market reacts to all the news.

“We’ve seen that in the past.

“We’ve also got some key inflation data out of the US on Friday and we’ve got key inflation data from here in Australia next week, so some decent risk events coming up.”

Wall St booked a relatively flat session overnight on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones lifting 57 points, or 0.14 per cent, to settle at 40,358 points.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.16 per cent to 5555 while the Nasdaq index lifted 0.06 per cent to 17,997.

The big banks were mixed, with Commonwealth Bank and ANZ losing 0.27 per cent to $132.78 and 0.74 per cent to $29.49, respectively.

Westpac rose 0.74 per cent to $28.53 and NAB climbed 0.62 per cent to $37.59.

In corporate news, Flight Centre tumbled 4.74 per cent to $21.92 after reporting a revised profit-after-tax expectation of between $316m to $324m.

Lithium darling Pilbara Minerals ended flat at $2.89 after reporting $305m in revenues for the June quarter, a 58 per cent lift on March.

The top gainer on the ASX200 was gold miner Red 5 Limited, which leapt 6.41 per cent to 41.5c.

The largest laggard was Telix Pharmaceuticals, which slumped 7.2 per cent to $18.85 after announcing it had raised $650m via convertible bonds due in 2029.

The company will pay 2.375 per cent per annum on the bonds beginning on October 30, 2024.