The Australian sharemarket wrapped the final session of the week around session lows, snapping three straight days of gains in the process, with the ASX 200 falling 0.7 per cent or 52.9 points to 7,301.5. Energy and Financials were some of the worst performing sectors, driven by a 2.6 per cent fall in Woodside Energy (WDS), and a decline across the Big 4 banks. Gold miners rose and were helped by the gold futures price rallying 3 per cent and touching 3½ month highs overnight. The Materials sector however still lost ground after major iron ore producers like Rio Tinto
(RIO) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) posted declines. Gold miner St Barbara (SBM) was the best performer of the day rising 10.4 per cent, while Newcrest Mining (NCM) added 2.1 per cent.
In company news, oil producer Beach Energy (BPT) fell 2.4 per cent after announcing another proposal to acquire Warrego Energy (WGO). BPT’s revised offer of $0.25 per share (previously $0.20 per share) comes after Hancock Energy announced an acquisition offer of 0.23 cents per share. Warrego’s board announced that it will consider BPT’s counterproposal and has advised its shareholders to ‘take no action’.
Domino’s Pizza (DMP) resumed trade and finished on a flat note after it announced the completion of its $150
million equity raise, at an offer price of $66.38 per share. It reaffirmed that proceeds from the equity raise will be used for the acquisition of shares held in a German joint venture, and to retire some of its debt.
Coal producer Coronado Global Resources (CRN) announced it will not meet its FY22 production volume,
largely because of ‘extraordinary rain events’. The company also mentioned that its FY22 mining costs per tonne guidance’ is also ‘at risk’. CRN closed 4.3 per cent lower.
On the economic front, in the US, non-farm payrolls (jobs) data is issued. The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 3.7 per cent, while 200,000 jobs are forecast to be added. Any surprises there could dictate how the Aussie sharemarket kick starts trade on Monday.
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Ahead: Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks.
Today, 3.1bn shares were traded, worth $8.3bn. 710 stocks rose, 647 fell & 396 finished unchanged.
Originally published by CommSec
