Good afternoon and welcome to The ASX Today, I’m Seja Al Zaidi. The Australian sharemarket is treading water as investors weigh encouraging progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks against fresh geopolitical uncertainty.
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At midday, the ASX 200 was sitting almost flat, up just 0.2 points to 8828.9, after falling sharply in early trade. Five of the eleven sectors were higher.
Oil has been driving most action. Brent reversed an early 2 per cent jump to trade down 1.4 per cent after the U.S. and Iran wrapped up high-level talks in Switzerland, working towards a 60-day path to permanent peace.
Financials were strong today: Comm Bank gained 0.7 per cent, ANZ added 0.4 per cent, while insurers QBE and IAG climbed 2 per cent. Consumer stocks were also in favour, with Aristocrat jumping 3.1 per cent; JB Hi-Fi up 1.1 per cent.
But it was a tougher session for miners, with BHP and Fortescue both slipping 1.3 per cent and lithium producer PLS down 5.7 per cent.
Gold stocks bucked the trend as bullion prices firmed, with Newmont up 1.3 per cent and Northern Star gaining 1.7 per cent.
Tech was the standout loser after WiseTech Global plunged almost 12 per cent to a five-year low following reports that the Australian Federal Police had launched an investigation into founder and chairman Richard White. The weakness weighed on the broader tech sector despite gains in Xero and TechnologyOne.
Elsewhere, Inghams dropped 5 per cent after imposing a full lockdown across its WA farms and processing sites following a detection of H5N1 avian flu.
And, Metcash edged 0.2 per cent higher despite reporting a 1.5 per cent decline in annual net profit, while Seven Group Holdings rallied 3.5 per cent after unveiling a share buyback of up to $500 million.
Finally, the A2 Milk Company rose as much as 3.6 per cent after announcing a $300 million special dividend following Chinese regulatory approval to transfer two infant formula registrations to its own brand.
And Credit Corp gained 0.6 per cent after walking away from its long-proposed acquisition of Humm. The other side, Humm, tumbled almost 20 per cent.
That’s The ASX Today, I’ll see you tomorrow.
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