ASX slides as gold stocks dip; Liontown jumps 14pc
The Australian sharemarket edged lower Monday as investors kept their powder dry before the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision this week.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 12.4 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 8622.2 at the closing bell as nine of the 11 sectors finished in the red. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index inched 0.2 per cent higher, but stopped short of a record on Friday after the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge met expectations.
The All Ordinaries fell by a similar amount.
The RBA is among four major central banks holding meetings this week and is widely expected to keep the cash rate on hold on Tuesday. The market’s focus will be on governor Michele Bullock’s press conference, when she is tipped to take a stronger line on inflation. Bond markets are pricing in at least one rate increase next year.
The US Federal Reserve is expected on Thursday to cut interest rates after a soft batch of US economic data. Still, US Treasuries declined, pushing the 10-year yield up to 4.14 per cent. The Bank of Canada and Swiss National Bank boards are also meeting this week.
“Central bank action will likely determine where sharemarkets finish the week,” said Michael McCarthy, a market strategist at Moomoo. “US rate reductions may be cold comfort to Australian investors. Stronger inflation, and further evidence last week of wage pressures and increasing consumer spending, mean that the RBA could signal a tightening stance, dashing many share investors’ hopes.”
On the ASX, it was a quiet session with little corporate news. Investors took profits in gold stock after a dip in the precious metal to $US4197.98 an ounce. Newmont and Northern Star were down 2.1 per cent to $134.93 and 1.4 per cent to $25.97, respectively. West African Resources dropped 4.2 per cent to $2.76.
Liontown soared 14.8 per cent to $1.51 and PLS by 6.1 per cent to $4.03 as both lithium miners continued to ride the wave after a UBS upgrade last Friday amid optimism about the sector.
Stocks in focus
Ainsworth Game Technology last traded at around $1. The poker machine maker said on Monday that it expected to post $21.5 million in underlying pre-tax profit for 2025, down from $23.2 million a year earlier, after a sharp second-half slowdown led by its North American business.
National Storage REIT climbed 2.2 per cent to $2.79 as it agreed to a $4 billion takeover by a Brookfield-GIC consortium that will see investors receive $2.86 cash per stapled security.
DigiCo Infrastructure REIT dipped 1.1 per cent to $2.50 after it named Michael Juniper as its new chief executive, effective immediately. He will also serve as managing director of digital infrastructure at HMC Capital.
TechnologyOne edged up 0.4 per cent to $28.85 after the company backed confidence in chief financial officer Cale Bennett to shareholders, who was employed by scandal-ridden Corporate Travel Management between 2019 and 2023, including as global CFO.
