Australian shares are retreating from their strong start to the week as investors de-risk ahead of a huge week in macroeconomic data, interest rate decisions and US tech earnings.
The main S&P/ASX200 index fell 21.6 points by midday, down 0.25 per cent, to 8788.3, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 17.2 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 8909.4.
“Earnings, central bank decisions, US politics and geopolitical risk are cross-currents the markets will have to contend with in the next week and a half,” Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said.
“Meanwhile, several central banks meet and will shed light on the outlook for the global calibration in monetary policy, with the markets dialled into what the Fed says about the prospects of future rate hikes.”
Eight of 11 local sectors were in the red by lunchtime, with only raw materials, energy stocks and IT able to carve out gains.
Mega miners BHP and Rio Tinto did some heavy lifting, each up more than 1.5 per cent after Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO) listing reinvigorated chip stocks and the AI trade overnight, boosting the copper price.
Gold stocks were broadly flat as the precious metal edged above $US4012 ($A5719) an ounce, while battery minerals and rare earths producers were mixed.
Energy stocks edged higher as oil prices eased after Iranian officials met with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan to discuss preventing further escalation in the region, following a visit from Qatari mediators working in co-ordination with the US.
Financials weighed heavily on the local indices, dropping one per cent as recent rallies in banks and insurers continued to unwind.
The dip comes ahead of Wednesday’s hotly anticipated September inflation print, which could force the Reserve Bank’s hand when it hands down its interest rate decision in a week’s time.
Consumer staples also dragged, down 1.1 per cent, tracking with even bigger falls in Woolworths and Coles, while cyclicals dipped 0.7 per cent.
In company news, shares in Star Entertainment surged by almost a fifth on the back of a strong earnings update, as the casino operator tries to recover from years of scandals and regulator woes.
Sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure and cloud services provider SCX.ai has joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX Super Intelligence Partner Network, and will connect the Grok AI tools to locally-hosted infrastructure.
Credit Corp’s shares have ticked higher following the debt collector’s annual meeting, where its leaders forecasted another record profit year thanks to its HSBC credit card book acquisition and a prudent pause in its US debt buying spree.
The Australian dollar is buying 70.20 US cents, down from 70.27 US cents on Monday at 5pm.
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