• Local shares dipped, led by losses in Mining
  • Aussie CPI softens to 4.3pc
  • Bitcoin volatile after SEC’s X account compromised

 

The ASX200 dipped by -0.7% on Wednesday, led by losses in the Mining and Energy sectors.

Local traders brushed aside the highly anticipated report from the ABS this morning, which confirmed that Australia’s inflation is heading in the right direction.

According to the report, consumer prices or CPI increased in the 12 months to November by 4.3%, much lower than the 4.9% reading in October. This was the lowest CPI reading since January 2022.

Items in the basket to have increased over the 12 months include: electricity prices, which rose 10.7% in the 12 months to November, and housing, which rose 6.6% in the same period.

Despite the slowdown, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that inflation is still too high.

“It is still higher than we would like. What this number shows is that the government’s policies are helping to put downward pressure on inflation in our economy,” he said.

On the ASX today, uranium stocks gained ground after the US Department of Energy (DOE) said last night that it was exploring domestic supply of an enriched uranium fuel to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to be volatile, up and down 1% in the last few hours to US$46,139 after fake news circulated that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved spot-Bitcoin ETFs.

Gary Gensler, the SEC’s chairman, said the regulator’s account on X had been compromised, and someone not authorised has posted false information. Below is the tweet (reposted by crypto YouTuber Lark Davis) that the SEC claims was bogus.

Read more here: Yessss, SEC approves Bitcoin ETF… no, wait it didn’t… ‘Jesus Christ, Gary – you had one job

 

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Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) rose 11% after the announcement from the DOE (see above).

Alumina (ASX:AWC) surged another 14.5%, adding to its 7% gain yesterday, following an announcement that it planned to fully curtail production at its Kwinana Alumina Refinery in WA, commencing in the second quarter of 2024.

Alumina, which is the Aussie vehicle for NYSE-listed Alcoa, said it will stop producing alumina at its loss-making Kwinana refinery by September. Alumina said the decision was in response to losses incurred at the refinery, together with its age, scale, operating costs and current bauxite grades.

The shares of mining services company, Worley (ASX:WOR), remained in trading halt since yesterday, pending a clarificatory announcement to the market. Order flows show that the shares will be down more than -2% when they come out of the halt.

 

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Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) fell -6% after revealing that it has acquired a 9.97% stake in freshly listed lithium explorer, Kali Metals (ASX:KM1), which itself rose by almost 50% today.

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