ASX steadies, Coles drops after dodgy discounts ruling
Coles shares have collapsed under the weight of a historic court ruling as the local stock market heads for its fifth straight day of losses as mining giant BHP extends its record-breaking run.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 23.3 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 8,607.1 points at midday trading on Thursday, while the broader All Ordinaries Index rose 27.4 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 8,855.8 points.
BHP shares are up almost seven percent in three days, trading at $62.31, breaking record highs in each session, boosted by strength in base metal prices that signal a recovery in the Chinese economy this week.
Rio Tinto and Fortescue also made progress, but the rest of the segment floundered as gold miners, battery minerals and rare earth producers lost ground.
Eight of 11 local sectors were trading lower at lunchtime, with consumer staples under pressure as Coles lost 3.6 per cent after the Federal Court ruled the supermarket giant’s “Down Down” discount campaign misled customers.
Woolworths shares fell 1.7 per cent after the court ruled on the “Prices Down” campaign at a later date.
Energy stocks were also sluggish, with the sector losing 1.1 percent after oil prices fell overnight on fears of a potential U.S. interest rate hike and ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The financial heavyweight sector gained less than 0.2 per cent as Commonwealth Bank shares staged a modest recovery after falling more than 10 per cent on Wednesday; This wiped out almost $30 billion from its value, leaving its total market cap at $257 billion.
NAB shares fell 1.9 percent to $36.18, underperforming its four major rivals.
BT shares slumped as accounting software maker
WiseTech also weighed on the segment, falling more than four percent as concerns over AI disruption and trading uncertainty continued to weigh on the logistics platform’s prospects.
Megaport shares are up more than a third after securing three major GPU, CPU, networking and storage contracts worth a total of US$182.9 million ($254 million) with two customers.
In company news, Euronext Paris CEO Anthony Attia will become the next chief executive and managing director of exchange operator ASX Ltd, replacing Helen Lofthouse. The share price increased by 1.7 percent.
The Australian dollar was buying 72.45 US cents, up slightly from 72.36 US cents at 5pm on Wednesday.
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the currency was supported by stronger commodity prices, improving risk sentiment and expectations of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
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