Energy and property stocks weigh on ASX; $A drops below US66¢

A sell-off in energy and real estate stocks dragged the Australian sharemarket lower on Wednesday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dipped 0.1 per cent, or by 7.4 points, to 7963.7 at the closing bell. That’s after all three major US indices moved lower overnight. The All Ordinaries were also flat.

On the ASX, the energy sector was the worst performing, even as crude oil snapped a three-day run of losses. Brent Crude rose above $US81 a barrel after shedding almost 5 per cent over the previous three sessions.

Shares of Woodside Energy dropped 1.1 per cent to $27.24, Ampol lost 1.3 per cent to $33.10 and Viva Energy slid 1 per cent to $3.03.

‘Light selling’

Property stocks also fell in the red, with Goodman Group down 2.1 per cent to $35.25. Stockland lost 2 per cent to $4.42.

On Wall Street, US stocks turned lower at the closing bell ahead of quarterly results from Tesla and Alphabet, which failed to impress investors.

After the close of trade, Tesla shares fell after the electric vehicle maker reported second-quarter profit that missed Wall Street estimates. Alphabet, meanwhile, posted better-than-expected profit results, but its shares still retreated in after-hours trading.

TMS Capital portfolio manager Ben Clark cited “very weak” trading volume as part of the reason for Wednesday’s relatively muted market movements.

“We also had slightly weaker reaction aftermarket to the Tesla and Google results so it appears there is a bit of light selling in the more growth type of stocks,” Mr Clark said.

On the ASX, large cap technology company WiseTech, tracked its US counterparts lower, falling 1.2 per cent to $95.03.

Meanwhile, gold miners were among the best performers as the price of spot gold edged up to $US2415.45 an ounce. Emerald Resources climbed 6 per cent to $4.05 and West African Resources added 4.6 per cent to $1.49.

Stocks in focus

In company news, Pilbara Minerals finished little-changed at $2.89 after earlier rallying as much as 5 per cent. The lithium exporter recorded a 58 per cent jump in revenue to $305 million for the June quarter.

Flight Centre tumbled 4.7 per cent to $21.92 after it revised its underlying profit before tax guidance to between $316 million to $324 million for FY24. The travel company said the change excluded $4 million in losses from the closure of its Discova Central Americas destination management business.

Perpetual slipped 0.7 per cent to $22.60 after its assets under management fell to $215 billion as of June 30, compared to $227.4 billion at March 31. The investment company said it had been impacted by “several” institutional clients redeeming money that led to more than $8 billion in outflows.

Platinum Capital shares rose 3.9 per cent to $1.45 after announcing it was converting its Platinum International Fund to an existing open-ended fund from a closed end fund following a strategic review.

And Telix Pharmaceuticals plunged 7.2 per cent to $18.85 after the company abandoned plans at the last minute to list on the Nasdaq. The biotech instead raised $650 million via convertible debt at an interest rate of 2.375 per cent.