ASX 200 closes in red; IT and A-REIT lead losses, Energy gains

The S&P/ASX 200 closed tad lower on Friday (12 August 2022), shedding 0.54% to 7,032.50. The Australian share market  registered the  fall of 38.50 points after taking cues from the Wall Street. It is to be noted that the US share markets ended lower in their last respective sessions.

Key pointers from ASX close today

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed lower on Friday.
• Bottom performing stocks in this index were Novonix Limited and Nanosonics Limited, down 8.56% and 6.43% respectively.
• Top performing stocks featured Woodside Energy and Beach Energy, gaining 3.735% and 3.064% respectively.
• In last five trading sessions, ASX 200 has been more or less unchanged, but is down 5.54% on year-to-date basis.
• Energy closed 2.10% higher, followed by Telecommunications services that ended 0.23% up.
• On the losing side were, Information Technology that closed 1.86% lower, A-REIT closed 1.85% down, Health Care ended 1.58% lower and Consumer Discretionary closed 1.29% down.
• Materials, Utilities, Industrials and Financial sectors too ended in red zone.

News Makers

• Insurance Australia Group Limited (ASX:IAG) – IAG has reported a net profit of AU$347 million for FY2022 despite a 2.9% fall in revenue for the given period. IAG’s gross written premiums grew 5.7% to AU$13.3 billion in FY22.
• ResMed Inc (ASX:RMD) – ResMed, in its fourth quarter results, announced a quarterly dividend of US$0.044 per share, 5% higher than the last year. The group revenue rose to US$914.7 million, up 4%, gross margin gained 57.1% and income from operations grew 6%.
• Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund (ASX:FSF) – Fonterra, in a business update, announced that the company is expecting to touch the higher limits in its earnings guidance.
• Woolworths Group Limited (ASX:WOW) - The Australian Competition and Consumer & Commission have announced today that it will not oppose the proposed acquisition deal between Woolworths (ASX:WOW) and the online retailer MyDeal.com (ASX:MYD). This decision by ACCC was driven by a thorough review that has evaluated the online retail competition and the third-party marketplace platforms. ACCC began reviewing the deal on 14 June 2022.  

Bond yields

Australia 10-year bond yield stands at 3.446% at 3:51 PM AEST, 12 August 2022.

In global markets:

Wall Street had opened higher on Thursday though the stocks declined after Federation Reserve officials rebuffed the discussions around pause in interest rate hikes.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed 0.1% down at 4,207.3; the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.6% lower to 12,779.91; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1% to 33,336.7.

Europe’s STOXX 600 Index ended 0.06% up.

In Commodities markets:

Crude Oil WTI was spotted at US$93.77/bbl at 1:52 PM AEST while Brent Oil was at US$99.09/bbl at 1:52 PM AEST, 12 August 2022.

Gold was at US$1,806.55 an ounce at 1:52 PM AEST today (12 August 2022).