AU Morning Wrap: ASX opens lower; Orica seeks $650m shares

Wall Street Summary
US stocks fell. Treasury yields jumped after several Fed members played down the prospect of a pause in interest rate hikes. $PayPal (PYPL.US)$ (+1.2%, after hours: +11.6%) posted better-than-expected results, with revenue up 9% to US$6.81bn and active customers up 6% to 429m users.

The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ dropped 27 points or 0.67 per cent. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ shed 402 points or 1.23 per cent. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ dipped 20 points or 0.16 per cent.

AU Market Watch
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is poised to slip at the open, pulling back from recent gains, following a negative lead from U.S. stocks. ASX futures are down 0.2% after the DJIA dropped 1.2%.

Australian shares opened lower this morning. The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ lost 0.67 per cent to 6951 as of 10:09 am.

Stocks to Watch
$Orica Ltd (ORI.AU)$: Explosives company Orica entered into a binding agreement to acquire digital orebody intelligence business Axis Mining Technology for $260 million in upfront cash and a deferred earn-out payment of up to $90 million. The purchase will be funded through a $650 million institutional share placement. Orica will also offer a non-underwritten share purchase plan capped at $75 million to shareholders.

$Pilbara Minerals Ltd (PLS.AU)$: Pilbara Minerals received a total of 67 bids at its auction of a cargo of 5,000dmt at a target grade of around 5.5 per cent lithia on the digital platform, with delivery expected from mid-September 2022.

$Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (PNI.AU)$: Pinnacle Investments has revealed total funds under management fell over the financial year for the first time in a decade as net inflows of $600 million couldn't offset a brutal sharemarket correction in the second half.

$BWP Trust (BWP.AU)$: BWP Trust reported a 0.6 per cent increase in net profit for the full year to $114.7 million and a final distribution of 9.27¢.That brings the retail landlord's full-year distribution to 18.29¢, in line with the previous year.

Ex-dividend: $AMCIL Ltd (AMH.AU)$, $Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (QRI.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures fell -0.1% to US$114.7 a tonne. Chinese iron ore port inventories and seaborne cargoes recovered in late July in response to improved market sentiment, according to Mysteel. Price movement remains subdued as market seeks clarity on August outlook.
• Oil briefly rallied on expectations that tomorrow’s OPEC+ meeting and weekly US oil inventory data will show that the supply side remains tight.
• Gold was close to a 1-month high of US$1,788 but fell sharply as Treasury yields rebounded and the US dollar got a kick from hawkish Fed comments

Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR