• ASX lost ground, dragged down by mining and energy shares
  • Transurban CEO moved to become Sydney Airport CEO
  • China’s central bank leaves rates unchanged

 

Local shares retreated on Wednesday in line with losses on Wall Street overnight. At the close, the benchmark ASX200 index was down -0.6%.

Energy and Mining sectors were the worst performers, down by more than 1% each, while Consumer Staples and Discretionary gained modestly.

Lithium stocks IGO (ASX:IGO) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) led the selloff.

Energy stocks like Contact Energy (ASX:CEN) and Paladin (ASX:PDN) also lost ground.

Sentiment on equities has taken a battering lately ahead of the US Fed interest rates decision, which will be announced later tonight.

The US five- and 10-year yields have hit their highest levels since 2007 as traders expect the Fed to remain hawkish this year before cutting in 2024.

“The market appears to be confident in the Fed’s ability to orchestrate a “soft landing” that would allow the Fed to cut interest rates throughout next year,” said a note from the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income team.

Meanwhile, the Westpac Leading Index released today still shows a negative growth rate s at -0.5%, which has persisted since August 2022. This suggests that the Australian economy continues to move through an extended period of weakness.

In China, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has left its benchmark loan prime rates unchanged at 3.45% today, as expected. In August,the PBOC cut the one-year benchmark lending rate by 10 bp.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
SMR Stanmore Resources 3.62 4.32 2,755,059 $3,127,828,970
MMS McMillan Shakespeare 16.49 3.84 231,084 $1,105,931,221
PSI Psc Insurance Ltd 4.80 3.67 26,130 $1,663,443,810
FBU Fletcher Building 4.31 3.24 535,479 $3,265,291,795
ALL Aristocrat Leisure 42.28 3.02 1,790,589 $26,617,298,149
CDA Codan Limited 8.08 2.93 414,964 $1,423,331,487
CWY Cleanaway Waste Ltd 2.50 2.88 4,830,774 $5,412,529,007
NWH NRW Holdings Limited 2.67 2.69 1,047,506 $1,167,903,178
SYA Sayona Mining Ltd 0.10 2.50 29,598,315 $1,029,329,601
DHG Domain Holdings Aus 4.04 2.28 294,240 $2,495,045,754
LFG Liberty Fin Group 3.68 2.22 4,240 $1,093,693,943
SDR Siteminder 4.77 2.14 362,701 $1,284,558,715
SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 8.37 2.07 109,269 $1,089,260,686
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Scrap metal company Sims (ASX:SIM) confirmed that it will sell its 50% shareholding of international bioenergy and methane abatement company, LMS Energy, to Pacific 2023 Holdco A, an entity owned by Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), for a$272.1 million. The sale is in line with the Sim’s disclosure on March 6.

Cleanaway Waste Management (ASX:CWY) rose after releasing its 2023 Sustainability report.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
CEN Contact Energy Ltd 7.52 -5.41 7,993 $2,003,615,723
SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.80 -5.06 8,795,345 $1,359,691,937
PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 0.96 -4.48 17,220,324 $2,996,034,592
NEU Neuren Pharmaceut. 10.70 -4.29 383,271 $1,415,004,258
IRE IRESS Limited 6.09 -3.87 708,794 $1,182,377,370
CHN Chalice Mining Ltd 2.57 -3.75 2,616,146 $1,038,532,022
ILU Iluka Resources 7.94 -3.35 2,054,841 $3,497,565,137
AWC Alumina Limited 1.00 -3.16 9,089,025 $2,988,731,860
360 Life360 Inc. 8.60 -3.15 227,635 $1,781,209,860
IGO IGO Limited 12.66 -3.06 2,778,737 $9,889,917,638
STX Strike Energy Ltd 0.40 -3.01 3,597,641 $1,053,808,414
GMD Genesis Minerals 1.53 -3.01 4,960,039 $1,639,391,194
PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 4.14 -2.93 19,312,692 $12,811,078,783
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Transurban (ASX:TCL) fell after announcing that Michelle Jablko will commence in the role as CEO upon the conclusion of the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 19.

Transurban also announced that outgoing CEO, Scott Charlton, will leave the company on November 30. Charlton is expected to take the role of CEO at unlisted Sydney Airport.

Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV) announced that Non-Executive Director, Colin Storrie, will not seek re-election at this year’s AGM, after more than six years at EDV. Storrie has decided to focus on other business interests, and will retire from the Endeavour Board on December 31.