ASX Large Caps: Blue chips down for first time this week as Real Estate and Tech drag

ASX falls for the first time this week
Real Estate and Tech were the main laggards
Australia retail sales higher than expected in May

The benchmark ASX 200 index fell for the first time this week, succumbing to sentiment in global equity markets.

The local index fell by 0.60% on Wednesday as Tech and Real Estate sectors weighed heavily on the broader market.

Real estate stocks fell as a number of REITs went ex-dividend today.

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW) and National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR) were among them, falling by around 6% each.

Investors in other rates sensitive sectors like Tech will also be closely watching the European Central Bank (ECB) forum later tonight, where Fed’s Powell, ECB’s Lagarde, and BOE’s Bailey are all expected to speak.

Meanwhile, better than expected retails sales figures weren’t enough to lift the Discretionary sector into positive territory today.

According to the ABS, Australian retail sales rose by a better-than-expected 0.9% in May (from April), and have surged by 10% since May 2021.

The question is, did sales numbers only go up because of higher prices?

“Price inflation will have made a sizeable contribution to the increase in retail sales in the month, in particular for food sales and spending at cafes and restaurants,” said BIS Oxford Economics’ Sean Langcake.

Later tonight, US GDP numbers for the March quarter will be top of headlines, and a miss could adversely affect the markets.

BIG CAP WINNERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
LTR	Liontown Resources	1.1225	5%	36,198,850	$2,334,719,836
NHC	New Hope Corporation	3.675	4%	2,371,117	$2,954,867,641
SKC	Skycity Ent Grp Ltd	2.65	4%	456,011	$1,946,125,335
AZJ	Aurizon Holdings Ltd	3.9	3%	4,108,615	$6,957,861,052
SGR	The Star Ent Grp	2.795	3%	4,740,694	$2,579,958,509
MEZ	Meridian Energy	4.22	3%	46,961	$5,186,336,623
VEA	Viva Energy Group	2.945	2%	2,066,188	$4,468,292,531
ALL	Aristocrat Leisure	35.24	2%	1,461,276	$23,102,003,643
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.8	2%	7,470,356	$4,026,553,903
MTS	Metcash Limited	4.26	2%	3,011,361	$4,035,963,896
WHC	Whitehaven Coal	5	2%	3,794,243	$4,809,925,701
MCY	Mercury NZ Limited	5.26	2%	9,692	$7,144,135,103
EDV	Endeavour	7.71	2%	1,475,676	$13,575,628,529
IAG	Insurance Australia	4.43	2%	4,003,062	$10,747,836,898
MXT	Metrics Master	1.995	2%	1,118,653	$1,727,906,038
ASX	ASX Limited	83.1	1%	241,358	$15,878,675,187
NAB	National Aust. Bank	28.14	1%	3,445,639	$88,707,247,273

Lithium miner Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) rose 5% after approving the 500,000tpa Kathleen Valley mine in WA (first production Q2 2024).

BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
IMU	Imugene Limited	0.1875	-13%	33,067,048	$1,261,125,488
SDR	Siteminder	3.73	-12%	400,726	$1,152,405,318
SYA	Sayona Mining Ltd	0.155	-11%	63,786,086	$1,443,181,717
CAR	Carsales.Com Ltd.	18.29	-9%	4,215,161	$5,706,872,335
SLR	Silver Lake Resource	1.24	-8%	6,397,269	$1,259,729,207
RRL	Regis Resources	1.355	-7%	10,107,119	$1,098,199,514
NXT	Nextdc Limited	10.685	-7%	2,073,986	$5,237,826,461
LFG	Liberty Fin Group	4.01	-7%	15,437	$1,305,480,000
PNI	Pinnacle Investment	7.11	-7%	674,401	$1,520,649,463
CLW	Chtr H Lwr	4.33	-7%	3,348,831	$3,354,513,362
NIC	Nickel Industries	1.005	-7%	4,677,720	$2,936,119,009
EVN	Evolution Mining Ltd	2.415	-6%	20,789,795	$4,729,159,822
SGP	Stockland	3.695	-6%	8,309,971	$9,405,456,348
SQ2	Block	94.4	-6%	256,620	$4,156,578,728
PME	Pro Medicus Limited	42.87	-6%	160,943	$4,758,063,980

Imuegene (ASX:IMU) lost 14% on no news. The company did announce on Monday positive results from its Phase 2 study of HER-Vaxx following the analysis of safety and efficacy data.

CarSales (ASX:CAR) dropped 11% after a cap raise of around $1.207 billion as it looks to expand into the US markets.