Last Orders: Energy and health stocks send the ASX retreating again

The ASX lost another 0.32 per cent today, due to a steep drop in the last hour of trading.

The bourse was almost at parity just before 3pm but a sell off in the last hour saw the ASX 200 close at 7,275, which was 0.32 per cent lower than yesterday. The benchmark index is down 1.4% this week but is up 10.4% in 2021 as the halfway mark of the year approaches.

Meanwhile, the ASX Emerging Companies Index gained 1.37 per cent as it bucks its performance over the last fortnight.

The worst sectors were health and energy, which retreated 1.8% and 1.23% respectively. Most other sectors were slightly in the red although tech gained over 2% while consumer staples gained 1.91%.

Today saw Woolworths’ (ASX:WOW) demerger of its alcohol retailers – including BWS and Dan Murphys – into the Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV)), which commenced trading as a standalone entity today.

The top stock with news was OM Holdings (ASX:OMH), which rose over 20 per cent after increasing its JV interest in the Bryah Basin Manganese Joint Venture to 51% and committing more funding.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Ecommerce stock Harris Technology (ASX:HT8) was the first company to reveal how well it did on Amazon Prime Day. The company reported $429,963 in sales, which was 32 per cent higher than last year’s result.

Medical imaging company Singular Health Group (ASX:SHG) formally launched its blockchain-based Medical File Transfer Protocol. It will deliver 3D patient-specific visualisations direct to people’s personal PCs and utilise blockchain (as well as private cloud infrastructure) to record a ledger of transactions and preserve user anonymity.

Scaffolding provider Acrow Formwork & Construction Services (ASX:ACF) gave a trading update in which it reiterated its guidance of $106 million revenue and a $8.7 million-$9.5 million profit for FY21. Acrow also announced it secured an industrial services contract for Visy’s paper mill at Tumut.

Forensic data company Nuix (ASX:NXL) told shareholders a search warrant was executed at its office “in relation to an investigation into the affairs of an individual”. The company said it understood that the investigation did not relate to any allegation of wrongdoing by the company.

Dominos (ASX:DMP) set a record for store openings in one year in Japan, rolling up the shutters on 126 stores in the past 12 months. This takes it to 800 stores in Japan, a little more than half-way to its target of 1,500 stores by the early 2030s.

Next Science (ASX:NXS) entered into negotiations with a company suing it for global commercial exclusivity rights over its bacteria killing solution XPerience. However, Next Science says if those broke down and a legal fight resumed it would defend itself.