To The Moon

The Australian sharemarket opened lower on Wednesday as heavy losses among energy and banking stocks offset a rebound in materials a week out from Christmas.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 30.8 points, or 0.4%, to 8568.10 at 10.12am AEDT, with seven of the 11 sectors lower.

Energy was the weakest sector as Woodside fell 2.1% as global oil prices fell 2% to the lowest level since early 2021 on expectations the war in Ukraine could end. Santos fell 1.6% as it executed a conditional sale to divest its 42.86% operated interest in the Mahalo Joint Venture in Queensland’s Bowen Basin to Comet Ridge and its PNG LNG venture repaid its debt ahead of time.

Consumer staples were down as Treasury Wine Estates dived 10.8% as the company downgraded its profit, which Citi said was 31% below consensus.

Commonwealth Bank lead all major four banks lower as it fell 1%, while gold miners helped lift materials with Evolution Mining up 1.3% and Northern Star by 0.5%.

Stocks in focus

IperionX fell 1.7% as it said its titanium production and manufacturing operations at its Virginia campus in the United States have achieved ISO 9001 certification.

GrainCorp dived 14.9% as it agreed to sell its interest in GrainsConnect Canada, which will be a loss of between $5 million and $10 million.

PointsBet lost 0.6% as it appointed Andrew Catterall as group chief executive officer, effective February 1, subject to gaming licensing and regulatory approvals.

Sandfire Resources fell 0.1% as it said an updated pre-feasibility study had confirmed the development potential of its fully permitted Black Butte copper project in Montana, held through its 87% stake in Sandfire Resources America.