An energy sector surge couldn’t stop the Australian share market from tumbling deeply into the red as a volatile trade trend continued. An energy sector surge couldn’t prevent the Australian share market from falling deeply into the red as a volatile trade trend continued, with investors showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index slumped 1.47 percent to 7275.6, while the All Ordinaries Index fell 1.43 percent to 7580.7. CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian said the losses accelerated throughout the session.
“We did have the best start to a new week since August 2 just yesterday, but today’s decline is certainly more than enough to wipe out those improvements,” Mr. Daghlian said. “There has been a lack of enthusiasm in markets recently. Markets have also been quite choppy and volatile, and still very much on track to fall back in September after 11 months of gains.” A significant drag on the local bourse was biotech heavyweight CSL, which dropped 3.85 percent to $294.47. However, energy stocks were big winners due to a continued lift in the oil price.
“You can put this off the back of growing fears of an energy shortage across Europe and parts of Asia heading into winter,” Mr. Daghlian said. Chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said China was stockpiling, not wanting to rerun last year’s winter shortage. “Constraints on the global supply chain due to Covid have led to significant demand-pull inflation, so we can expect to see inflated oil prices for at least the next few months,” Mr. Tchourilov said. Oil Search spiked 7.06 percent to $4.40, Santos surged 5.64 percent to $7.12, Woodside jumped 5.03 percent to $24.03, Origin climbed 5.32 percent to $4.75 after pouring more money into UK renewable energy company Octopus to maintain its 20 percent stake.
After holding an investor briefing, Beach Energy dazzled a day after inking a draft agreement with BP for its share of LNG from the Waitsia stage two project in Western Australia, rocketing 10.53 percent to $1.36. “It also today flagged increased production in coming years,” Mr. Daghlian said. Beach announced two directors would retire from the board at the November 100 annual general meetings, including Ryan Stokes, the son of billionaire Kerry Stokes. He is a representative of significant shareholder Seven Group Holdings. Coal miners performed strongly as prices for thermal coal, which is used to generate electricity, also rose ahead of the northern winter. Whitehaven gained 6.52 percent to $3.27, while Yancoal added 3.9 percent to $2.66.
“The price of iron ore has also jumped close to 8 percent in the past day, which means it’s on a four-day winning streak,” Mr. Daghlian said. “This has been attributed partly to restocking that’s taking place in China at the moment: one of the main reasons for this is ahead of the week-long national holidays, which kick off this Friday. “Some companies are perhaps stocking up on iron ore. “But (it’s) not flowing through to iron ore miners, which have been hit quite hard because of the trend lower in iron ore prices, which – big picture – have fallen about 25 percent this month because of restrictions that have generally been in place in China to try to limit pollution ahead of February’s Winter Olympics.”
Rio Tinto weakened 2.99 percent to $97.47, the more diversified BHP backtracked 2.25 percent to $36.87, Champion Iron subtracted 2.6 percent to $4.88, and Fortescue slid 5.59 percent to $14.87. Morgans has a “reduce” recommendation on the miner, pushing to achieve carbon neutrality within its operations by 2030 through its Fortescue Future Industries division, giving it a target price of $14.15. Credit Suisse pointed to reports that some recent Fortescue management departures were due to bonus disputes. “We also note that FMG’s CEO last Friday sold about 65 percent of her shares (excluding performance rights), which in our view further highlights the management churn risk at FMG,” Credit Suisse said.
Mr. Tchourilov said shareholders in iron ore stocks may have spied an opportunity to close their positions at a favorable price, triggering a sell-off. “Gold miners were also included in the sell-off, despite stability in the spot and futures price,” he said. Evolution Mining slid 6.44 percent to $3.34, Northern Star Resources declined 4.29 percent to $8.26, and Chalice Mining went south by 2.33 percent to $6.70. Domino’s Pizza shed 2.15 percent to $155.34 after announcing Australia-New Zealand chief executive Nick Knight would retire from the fast-food giant he started working for as a teenager in regional NSW.
Group chief executive and managing director Don Meij paid tribute to “a true Domino”. David Burness, who started as a delivery driver for then Silvio’s Dial-A-Pizza in 1991 before progressing to a franchise consultant when the Domino’s brand was acquired, is taking on Mr. Knight’s role. In the travel sector, Flight Centre continued its tremendous run in September with hopes of a resumption in movement over coming months, lifting 1.18 percent to $21.52. ANZ dipped 0.54 percent to $27.62, Commonwealth Bank eased 0.56 percent to $104, National Australia Bank gave up 0.33 percent to $27.49, and Westpac declined 0.59 percent to $25.31.
In economic news, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed retail turnover fell 1.7 percent in August, with each of the eastern mainland states suffering falls in line with their respective level of lockdown restrictions. Originally published as Australian sharemarket tumbles as ‘choppy, volatile’ trade trend continues amid lack of enthusiasm. The Aussie dollar bought 72.96 US cents, 53.24 British pence, and 62.41 Euro cents in afternoon trade.
