A fall in key commodity and oil prices hit the Australian sharemarket on Thursday, dragging the index lower, even as the majority of shares finished in the green. <\/p>\n
The benchmark ASX 200 dropped 59.70 points or 0.68 per cent to 8748.70, while the broader All Ordinaries dragged 61 points or 0.68 per cent to 8951.60.<\/p>\n
The Australian dollar slipped further on Thursday to buy 68.90 US cents.<\/p>\n
Seven of the 11 sectors finished higher despite the market falling. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday the dollar dropped to an 11-week low due to the US Federal Reserve signalling further rate hikes. <\/p>\n
Leading the gain were healthcare stocks as vaccines giant CSL rallied 2.31 per cent to $117.65, while Sigma Healthcare jumped 2.56 per cent to $2.80 and Pro Medicus lifted 3.58 per cent to $185.39.<\/p>\n
Consumer discretionary shares also jumped on Thursday, as Wesfarmers closed 2.52 per cent higher at $89.47, JB Hi Fi soared 4.08 per cent to $81.60 and Harvey Norman rallied 2.32 per cent to $4.86. <\/p>\n
But the gains in the healthcare and consumer discretionary sectors were offset by big falls in commodity prices. <\/p>\n
BHP shares slumped 1.65 per cent to $58.52, Rio Tinto dropped 2.26 per cent to $169.99 and Fortescue Metals traded in the red down 1.61 per cent to $18.94.<\/p>\n
Gold producers were also hit on Thursday as the price of the precious metal fell back below $US4000 ($A5803) an ounce. <\/p>\n
Northern Star Resources fell 3.25 per cent to $19.92, Evolution Mining dragged 3.81 per cent to $11.88 and Newmont Corporation dropped 3.05 per cent to $134.37. <\/p>\n
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said Australia\u2019s fall follows potential rate hikes in the United States. <\/p>\n
\u201cThursday\u2019s selling pressure in the ASX200 was driven by two profit warnings and a renewed slide in key commodity prices, triggered by last week\u2019s hawkish Federal Open Market Committee meeting that has given the US dollar a real boost. <\/p>\n
\u201cCommodity prices are negatively correlated with the US dollar, and this resulted in the heavy weight Materials sector falling for a sixth consecutive session,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Domestic economic news also hit the ASX 200 as investors weigh up what it might mean for the future of Australian interest rates. <\/p>\n
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows unemployment fell to 4.4 per cent, with an extra 40,300 people in the workforce versus 18,300 people who lost their job.<\/p>\n
This followed mixed news on inflation released on Wednesday as the headline rate cooled to 4 per cent in May down from 4.2 per cent in April.<\/p>\n
At the same time the trimmed mean inflation rate \u2013 which avoids volatile items \u2013 added 0.2 per cent to 3.6 per cent over the last 12-months. <\/p>\n
Global X investment strategist Justin Lin said the jobs and inflation figures have amplified the rotation into equities exposed to the domestic economy. <\/p>\n
\u201cA steady unemployment rate and strong job gains have eased concerns about slowing Australian growth, encouraging investors to shift away from defensive and commodity exposures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think this reaction is likely overdone.\u201d<\/p>\n
In company news, Judo shares were absolutely belted as it crashed 40.39 per cent to $0.915 after announcing a profit guidance downgrade.<\/p>\n
The challenger bank said FY26 profit before tax is expected to be between $163m and $169m, down from $180m and $190m it had guided in late April, while it warned that the cost of risk is up to between $116m to $122m.<\/p>\n
Shares in dairy and baby formula provider A2Milk company jumped 3.65 per cent to $7.10 after giving shareholders $300m in a special dividend after it secured key regulatory approval with a Chinese regulator. <\/p>\n
Mineral Resources dropped 1.72 per cent to $64.14 after it told the market its Lucky Bay garnet project in Western Australia would close, impacting 110 roles, after owning the site for less than a year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fall in key commodity and oil prices hit the Australian sharemarket on Thursday, dragging the index lower,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,115817,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-759700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-newswire-business","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}