ASX Wavers After $60B Blow Out; DroneShield Dives on US CEO Exit
The Australian sharemarket opened little changed from the year’s second-biggest drop on Tuesday as investors erased $60 billion in value on growing anxiety about chip giant Nvidia’s upcoming results and concerns that interest rates in the US won’t fall soon.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.8 points to 8470.90 at 10.12am AEDT, with five of the 11 sectors in the green. Strong gains from energy and miners, as well as defensive sectors prevented the benchmark index from trading lower.
Crude oil prices rose as markets braced for deeper disruptions to Russian supply, with the European Union and US moving to further restrict Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine. This helped Woodside to rise by 1.3% and Santos 0.6%.
Materials were also supported as gold prices lifted as safe-haven demand returned. Northern Star added 2.7%, Evolution Mining 2.1% and Newmont 1%. BHP added 0.8%.
CSL advanced 1% as it underpinned gains in healthcare.
Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said markets continue to de-risk heading into critical US jobs data and Nvidia’s earnings after Wall Street’s closing bell on Thursday.
“The dominant narratives in the market right now remain about the US rate outlook and the valuations of artificial intelligence stocks,” he said.
“This is the most important set of quarterly results from the (Nvidia) because of the critical juncture that the artificial intelligence complex happens to find itself in.”
The tech sector took total falls in the past five sessions to 14% as investors await those Nvidia results due on Thursday. Shares in WiseTech Global fell 0.4%, Xero 0.7% and US-based Life360 dived 3.2%.
The major banks weighed again as Commonwealth Bank and ANZ both fell 1%, and Westpac as well as National Australia Bank by 0.4% each.
Stocks in focus
In company news, market darling DroneShield tumbled 11.8% to $2.16 as US chief executive Matt McCrann resigned, effective immediately, after serving in the position since 2022. The company is down 45% in the past month.
Webjet soared 17.2% as Helloworld lobbed a 90¢ a share bid after quietly amassing a sizable stake in the online travel agency over the past half year. It came as Webjet reported a dip in first-half earnings. Helloworld 1.7%.
Nufarm soared 12.6% as Nufarm group executive portfolio solutions Rico Christensen will replace Greg Hunt as chief executive from January 1. It also reported a statutory net loss of $165.3 million for FY25, driven by $142.4 million in mostly non-cash charges linked to a review of its Seed Technologies unit.
TPG Telecom fell 6.5% as it raised $300 million through the issue of new shares to institutional investors, but cut the size after the death of a Sydney person unable to reach Triple Zero due to an outdated Samsung phone.
News Corp executive Andrew Cramer has been appointed to the position of REA Group chief financial officer to start February 12 amid the pending retirement of Janelle Hopkins. REA Group dropped 1.1%.
KMD Brands — the owner of Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz — soared 8.5% as first quarter group sales grew 7.9% year-on-year for the period from August to October.
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