ASX 200 closes lower; utilities gain, IT sector falls

Highlights

• The ASX 200 benchmark index ended in red today, losing 0.53% to end at 6,992.70 points.
• Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is down 6.07% for the last year to date.
• Bottom performing stocks in this index were St Barbara and Life360 Inc, ending 11.57% and 7.05% lower respectively.

Australian share market closed on a negative note today (August 10) with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 losing 0.53% to end at 6,992.70 points.

Following bad leads from Wall Street, dip-buyers used early weakness to push the stock market more than 30 points above its low.

Gains in most of the major miners and banks helped to offset a steep decline in IT stocks and more moderate declines in defensive assets. Following the announcement of a decrease in lending margins, the stocks of Commonwealth Bank struggled today.

Key pointers from ASX close today

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed down today, losing 0.53% to end at 6,992.70 points.
• Top performing stocks were Imugene Limited (ASX:IMU) and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), up 9.26% and 5.12% respectively.
• Bottom performing stocks in this index were St Barbara Limited (ASX:SBM) and Life360 Inc (ASX:360), ending 11.57% and 7.05% lower respectively.
• Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is down 6.07% for the last year to date.
• Nine out of 11 ASX sectors ended the day in red zone.
• Utility was the best performing sector today, gaining 0.90%. The sector has gained 1.86% in last five trading days.
• IT was the worst performing sector today, down 3.78%.
• Volatility indicator A-VIX index was up 2.25% at 4.08 PM AEST.
• The All-ordinaries Index fell 0.55%.

Newsmakers

PolyNovo Ltd (ASX:PNV): To assess the effectiveness and safety of its NovoSorb SynPath product for the treatment of persistent diabetic foot ulcers, PolyNovo has enrolled its first patient in a clinical trial.

Meanwhile, shares of PolyNovo closed trading flat at AU$2.12 each on ASX today.

Orange Minerals NL (ASX:OMX): Orange Minerals (OMX) has invested AU$600,000 to acquire a 6.9% stake in Godolphin Resources (GRL).

The company participated in Godolphin's recently concluded placement by subscribing to 7.06 million new shares at 8.5 cents.

Meanwhile, shares of Orange Minerals closed trading at AU$0.091 each, down 9% on ASX today.

Image Source: © 2022 Kalkine Media ® 
Data Source- ASX website dated 09 August 2022

Bond yields

Australia’s 10-year Bond Yield stands at 3.268% as of 4.16 PM AEST.

In global markets

In anticipation of the release of the CPI data on Wednesday, investors were cautious as US markets closed down on Tuesday (August 9).

S&P 500 decreased 0.42% to 4,122.47, while Dow Jones closed at 32,774.41, going down 0.18%. The small-cap Russell 2000 dropped 1.46% to 1,912.89 while the NASDAQ Composite dropped 1.19% to 12,493.93.

Investors also look to the rush of company results and other economic data for hints on the direction the economy is taking. Strong job figures from the previous week allayed worries that the economy is moving towards recession.

According to a Labor Department report released on August 9, the second quarter saw a sharp decline in the productivity of US workers. According to the research, worker productivity in the nonfarm business sector fell 4.6% yearly in Q2 FY22 compared to Q1 FY22.

In Asia, the Asia Dow was down 1.50% and Nikkei in Japan fell 0.65% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong decreased by 2.52%, and Shanghai Composite in China fell 0.68% at 4.40 PM AEST.

In Commodities markets

Crude Oil WTI was spotted trading at US$89.68/bbl while Brent Oil was at US$95.24/bbl at 3.41 PM AEST.

Gold was at US$1788.44 an ounce, copper was at US$3.569/Lbs and iron ore was at US$111.50/T at 4.42 PM AEST.