Closing Bell: ASX has its worst day since February, suffering 2.1pc drop

Australia’s bourse had its biggest decline since February 26 falling by over 2%.

The ASX 200 fell 2.1% to close at 7,248 and is down 5% since August 13. The ASX Emerging Companies Index fared worse, losing over 4% in its worst day since April 2020.

The worst sector was materials which shed 3.74%, followed by energy which lost 2.99% and tech which lost 2.75%.

Utilities was the only positive sector gaining 1.01% – possibly triggered by this morning’s takeover bid for energy network operator AusNet (ASX:AST).

Several other Asian markets were closed for holidays but the few that were opened followed the ASX’s fate, with Hong Kong down 3.4% hitting a 12 month low.

This followed a soft finish on Wall St last week as investors pondered disappointing consumer confidence data and anticipated the Federal Reserve outlining its plans to taper stimulus which is responsible for much of the rally in equity markets in the past 18 months, despite the pandemic.

TODAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

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Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
HNR	Hannans Ltd	0.037	68	113462797
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.021	40	3918401
MCM	Mc Mining Ltd	0.165	32	37000
OEX	Oilex Ltd	0.0045	29	9648461
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.011	22	28289571
LEP	ALE Property Group	5.68	21	2027452
TTI	Traffic Technologies	0.042	20	137144
AST	AusNet Services Ltd	2.36	19	14346188
IQ3	Iq3Corp Limited	0.125	19	60481
HMI	Hiremii	0.11	18	354117
92E	92Energy	0.94	18	12293620
RDG	Res Dev Group Ltd	0.055	17	728439
SRJ	SRJ Technologies	0.295	16	162928
MCE	Matrix C & E Ltd	0.15	15	799318
UUL	Ultima Utd Ltd	0.9	15	33865
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.035	13	1839326
XST	Xstate Resources	0.0045	13	14109382
WFL	Wellfully Limited	0.185	12	2366184
OXX	Octanex Ltd	0.038	12	577954
ANP	Antisense Therapeut.	0.195	11	2798212
RNO	Rhinomed Ltd	0.39	11	1155262
SGC	Sacgasco Ltd	0.039	11	6664013
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.01	11	6674355

Topping the charts was Hannans (ASX:HNR) an explorer that had no news today but recently pivoted into the lithium space and has been rewarded by shareholders ever since.

Energy network operator AusNet (ASX:AST) and pub owner ALE Property Group (ASX:LEP) climbed after receiving takeover offers.

Engineering firm Matrix (ASX:MCE) rose after winning a $4.2 million contract with offshore drilling contractor Transocean, to upgrade its ultra-deep water drillship modules.

Small cap oil play Oilex (ASX:OEX) told shareholders it was pushing to restart the production at the C-73 and C-77H wells after executing the sale and purchase agreement to purchase the Gujarat State Petroleum Company’s 55% participating interest in the Cambay Production Sharing Contract (PSC).

TODAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

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Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.002	-33	14747469
PCL	Pancontinental Oil	0.001	-33	224829
BAS	Bass Oil Ltd	0.0015	-25	11177353
A3D	Aurora Labs Limited	0.125	-24	1552695
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.016	-24	8682797
FEX	Fenix Resources Ltd	0.23	-22	15802672
VMY	Vimy Resources Ltd	0.21	-21	20478857
MGL	Magontec Limited	0.31	-21	47004
AGE	Alligator Energy	0.085	-19	104576744
LHM	Land Homes Grp Ltd	0.013	-19	63093
DYL	Deep Yellow Limited	1.115	-19	4881498
GLA	Gladiator Resources	0.045	-18	16132967
M24	Mamba Exploration	0.18	-18	215978
GGG	Greenland Minerals	0.115	-18	10103499
PEN	Peninsula Energy Ltd	0.28	-18	17325058
BOE	Boss Energy Ltd	0.285	-17	34309809
BMN	Bannerman Energy Ltd	0.31	-17	12815698
RCR	Rincon	0.215	-17	220329
EMP	Emperor Energy Ltd	0.045	-17	2473547
DCX	Discovex Res Ltd	0.005	-17	4948648
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	0.86	-17	51330150
BEM	Blackearth Minerals	0.13	-16	2853716
EM2	Eagle Mountain	0.7	-16	1488629

Gladiator (ASX:GLA) fell after an exploration update for its Bendoc gold project in Victoria.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Merchant payments business Smartpay (ASX:SMP) provided a trading update to its shareholders. While lockdowns resulted in a 15.5% drop in revenue in August compared to June, the company reported 200 new terminals coming on board and said their impact would be noticed in the coming months.

Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR) made a full year net profit of US$4.4 million. It also reported producing 3.14 million of barrels from the Bauna oil field in Brazil since acquiring it last November.

The Australian Unity Office Fund (ASX:AOF) updated shareholders on its proposed merger with Australian Unity Diversified Property Fund (DPF). The deal was first proposed on July 7 but today shareholders were advised AOF will hold a slim majority (approximately 54%) of the new entity.

Biotech AdAlta (ASX:1AD) was granted $4 million in R&D rebate funding from the Victorian government. $2.4 million will be received by this month’s end with the balance to be paid by March 31 next year.

New Zealand Oil and Gas (ASX:NZO) told shareholders all conditions precedent for it to buy 3 oil assets in the NT from Central Petroleum were fulfilled. The company says the deal will be completed on October 1.

Upcoming logistics listee Zoom2u Technologies (ASX:Z2U) announced Telstra would use its platform for 2 hour delivery products. The company, which is due to list on Wednesday at 11am (AEST) said the deal would be beneficial but the materiality would be dependant on delivery volumes.