The Aussie market lost ground for the third straight day and followed in the footsteps of a rather uninspiring session on Wall Street overnight, with the ASX 200 falling by 0.8 per cent or 54 points to 7175.5. Seven (of 11) sectors lost ground, with the Energy sector emerging as the session’s worst, after being weighed by a steep sell-off in oil prices.
Local oil producers like Woodside Energy (WDS) fell by 4.3 per cent. Lithium miners also performed poorly with Core Lithium (CXO) and Liontown Resources (LTR) dropping 9.9 and 7.5 per cent, respectively. In contrast, gold miners were some of the best performers of the day, and were supported by a rise in the gold futures price overnight. Gold miners West African Resources (WAF), Evolution Mining (EVN) and Silver Lake Resources (SLR) rose 4.7, 3.6 and 3.7 per cent respectively.
In company news, Air New Zealand (AIZ) announced an update on its half-year earnings guidance for FY23. The company updated its ‘earnings before other significant items and taxation’ from $200-275 million, to $295-325 million. The earnings upgrade comes after AIZ noted ‘accelerated financial recovery’ due to ‘strong travel demand
across the domestic and international networks’, as well as a ‘recent decline in fuel prices’. AIZ added 1.4 per cent by the close of day.
Technology administration company, Link Administration Holdings (LNK) extended its losses to a third straight day, after falling by 1.5 per cent today. This comes after LNK rejected Dye & Durham’s proposal ‘to acquire Link Group’s Corporate Markets business and all of the BCM business’ for A$1.27 billion. This was due to an inability for the parties to progress to a transaction that is ‘on appropriate terms’.
Integrated service company, Downer EDI (DOW) was the worst performer on the ASX 200 today, after dropping 20.4 per cent. DOW updated its FY23 profit guidance to reflect ‘accounting irregularities’ involving ‘misreporting of revenue and work in progress’. Recently, Downer also announced management changes, with the company’s COO replacing the current CEO in February 2023.
Base metal explorer and developer Chalice Mining (CHN) was the best performer of the day, soaring 13.1 per cent. This was off the back of the discovery of ‘promising new sulphide mineralisation’ at its Hooley Prospect site during exploration activities.
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Ahead: In the US, data on weekly claims for jobless claims is released. Current forecasts suggest that 230,000 individuals filed for unemployment insurance.
Today, 3.2bn shares were traded, worth $7.6bn. 587 stocks rose, 783 fell & 399 finished unchanged.
Originally published by CommSec