ASX 200 opens slightly lower as energy and mining stocks spoil mood

The Australian share slipped into the red zone during early session on Friday, despite a strong overnight lead from Wall Street. Energy producers and lead miners are taking a hit at the opening, on the back of an overnight fall in the commodity prices. The ASX 200 was trading 0.13% or 9.1 points down at 7,408.3 in the opening session.

Image Source: © Embe2006 | Megapixl.com

Global stock indices closed slightly lower on Thursday as US technology companies fell while risk-sensitive currencies including the Australian dollar weakened by about 0.59% to US$0.7461.

The Dow Jones was weighed down by a crack in IBM shares after a disappointing quarterly earnings report. However, the NASDAQ closed positive, while the S&P 500 marked a new record high with help from heavyweight stocks such as Tesla.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to 4,549.79 points, while the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.62%, to 15,215.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained almost flat, closing 0.02% lower at 35,603.09.

Read More: S&P 500 closes at all-time high as tech shines, inflation jitters fade

How has the market performed so fat?

As of 11:00 AM AEDT, the ASX 200 was trading 4.1 points or 0.06% down at 7,411.7. The ASX All Ordinaries index was also trading with a minor downtick of 0.05% or 4.1 points to 7,724.4.

Data Source: ASX Website (as of 22 October 2021, 11:00 AM AEDT)

The top ASX 200 contributors in the early session were Healius Limited (ASX:HLS) and Appen Limited (ASX:APX), both gaining 4.84% and 3.28%, respectively. On the flip side, Lynas Rare Earths Limited (ASX:LYC) and Champion Iron Limited (ASX:CIA) took the hardest hit, losing 7.12% and 5.85%, respectively.

Coming to the market breadth, eight out of the 11 sectors were trading positive, with the Materials sector losing 1.48%, followed by a 1.39% fall in the energy space. The consumer discretionary and health care sectors were up 1% each. 

Miners drag ASX 0.3% lower, travel stocks goes up

Newsmakers

1. HelloWorld Travel Limited (ASX:HLO)

• Travel agency HelloWorld’s total transaction volume for the September quarter increased by 50.7%.
• The EBITDA also recovered to negative AU$3.6 million, from negative AU$6.3 million over the same period last year.
• Based on current liquidity levels, the company holds sufficient cash to continue operations beyond FY22.

2. Orocobre Limited (ASX:ORE)

• The company produced a record 67,391 dry metric tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate in the September 2021 quarter, from its Mt Cattlin project.
• The company clocked a revenue of US$69.8 million from Mt Cattlin, shipping 89,640 tonnes of products.
• Lithium carbonate production is up over 200% from its Olaroz mines in Argentina, over the last year.

3. Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG)

• The management expects to grow its gross written premium by a low-single digit in FY22, it said in the AGM.
• It said its natural perils allowance remained unchanged at AU$765 million for the year, despite an earthquake in the September quarter in Victoria.
• The lockdowns helped to reduce motor vehicle claim volumes in Australia and New Zealand.

4. Humm Group Limited (ASX:HUM)

• The group’s BNPL transaction volumes surged 44.5% to AU$308.8 million in the September quarter.
• The total transaction volumes were up 39.6% to AU$763.3 million in the same period.
• Total number of customers saw an uptick of 6% to 2.7 million, compared to the previous quarter.

5. Aurizon Holdings Limited (ASX:AZJ)

• Aurizon has announced a AU$2.5 billion deal to acquire One Rail Australia from Macquarie Group.
• The cost of acquisition will be funded by new debt facilities.

Read More: Three ASX penny stocks that shot up over 100% in one month