The Australian sharemarket dipped on Monday as strong gains in technology stocks were offset by a sell-off in the energy sector and the major banks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 21.6 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8849.6, tracking a decline on Wall Street on Friday. The All Ordinaries also slipped 0.2 per cent. Eight of the bourse’s 11 sectors finished in the red.
Even gold miners retreated, defying firm prices for the precious metal which hovered near a record high of $US3600 an ounce on heightened expectations that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates later this month.
‘Profit-taking’
Evolution Mining fell 1.4 per cent to $8.93, while Newmont shed 0.7 per cent to $115.07 and Ramelius shaved off 1.5 per cent to $3.38.
“We are probably seeing small profit-taking after the rallies,” noted Wilson Asset Management portfolio manager John Ayoub.
Gold has soared 37 per cent so far this year, driven by geopolitical uncertainty, a weaker US dollar, buying by central banks and a global tide of policy easing.
August inflows and a further rise in the gold price pushed global gold ETFs’ total assets under management 5 per cent higher to $US407 billion ($618 billion), setting a new month-end record, according to World Gold Council data.
Elsewhere in commodities, oil prices rallied more than 1 per cent after OPEC+ agreed over the weekend to raise output at a slower pace from October on expectations of weaker global demand.
Yet, gas producers Woodside and Santos hit multi-week lows, tracking last week’s weaker oil price. Woodside retreated 2.7 per cent to $24.98 and touched its weakest in seven weeks. Santos shed 1.2 per cent to $7.71.
“Woodside and Santos held up relatively well in the weakness of oil prices at the end of last week, it could well be a bit of a catch-up,” said Sean Sequeira, chief investment officer at Australian Eagle Asset Management. He expects both stock prices to rebound once the US starts trading.
Bank stocks were also a drag on the ASX with ANZ down the most among the big lenders. It shed 1 per cent to $32.95, National Australia Bank lost 0.8 per cent to $42.84. Westpac eased 0.6 per cent to $37.94 and Commonwealth Bank swung to a tiny gain of 0.1 per cent at $168.24 at the 11th hour.
Stocks on the move
Family tracking company Life360 and uranium player Boss Energy were the index’s top gainers, with rises exceeding 6 per cent each to $48.51 and $2.09, respectively. The strong moves in Life360 follow similar moves on Wall Street last week.
The ASX’s large mining groups also helped to limit losses on the index, with Rio Tinto rising 0.8 per cent to $118.21 and South32 0.4 per cent higher at $2.65. BHP, however, lost 0.6 per cent to $41.37 despite firm iron ore prices.
The bourse was also weighed down by stocks trading ex-dividend such as Super Retail and Cash Converters.
In company news, supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles had a volatile session after flagging $1 billion in backpay underpayments following a Federal Court decision last week. Coles dropped 0.8 per cent to $23.76, while Woolworths swung to a gain of 0.5 per cent to $27.74.
Mayne Pharma had a tough session, tumbling about 15 per cent to $4.50 on concern that its takeover by US healthcare company Cosette might fail.
