AU Morning Wrap: ASX opens down 0.85%, materials, energy weigh

Wall Street Summary
US stocks gave up early gains as a record number of job openings indicated recent interest rate rises have yet to slow the labour market. A rebound in consumer confidence underlined the Federal Reserve's argument that rates will have to rise to slow consumer spending and bring down inflation.

The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ dropped 44 points or 1.1 per cent to a third straight loss. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ gave up 308 points or 0.96 per cent. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ shed 135 points or 1.12 per cent.

AU Market Watch
Australian shares were set to open lower following a third straight losing session on Wall Street after strong economic data bolstered the case for higher rates.

ASX futures declined 58 points or 0.84 per cent as the main indices in the US fell around 1-1.1 per cent. A loss of that scale on the S&P/ASX 200 would strip the index of its slender gain for the month.

Australian shares opened lower this morning. The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ lost 0.85 per cent to 6938.6 as of 10:22 am.

Stocks to Watch
$Web Travel Group Ltd (WEB.AU)$: Webjet expects cash surplus from operations to exceed $100 million in the first half of FY23 – the period ending in September. It said bookings were tracking at 95 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and that all three businesses were profitable.

$Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (HVN.AU)$: Net profits after tax at retailer Harvey Norman have fallen 3.6 per cent to $811 million in FY22, after a record FY21, but remain well above FY20. Reported EBITDA fell 1.4 per cent to $1.4 billion.

$Perseus Mining Ltd (PRU.AU)$: Gold miner Perseus has delivered record financial performance in FY22 and a bonus final dividend to shareholders. Profit after tax jumped more than 100 per cent to $280 million while revenue rose 66 per cent to $1.1 billion.

The board declared a dividend of 1.64¢ a share including a bonus dividend of 0.79¢ a share, bringing total dividends in FY2022 to 2.45¢ a share. This represents an increase of 63 per cent on last year.

$Mesoblast Ltd (MSB.AU)$: Mesoblast has revealed its losses in FY 2022 reached $US91.3 million to take accumulated losses since inception to $US738.9 million. It reported revenue of $US10.2 million for FY 2022.

$Atlas Arteria Ltd (ALX.AU)$: Atlas Arteria has provided record first-half distribution guidance of 20¢ per security for the first and second half of 2022, reflecting a sustained recovery in traffic.Atlas reported a statutory net profit after tax of $117.1 million for the half, up from $41.2 million in the pcp.

$St Barbara Ltd (SBM.AU)$: St Barbara has posted a statutory loss after tax of $161 million for the 2022 financial year, an improvement from the $177 million loss posted in FY21. On an underlying basis, its profit after tax dropped 70 per cent to $24 million.

$Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (PBH.AU)$: PointsBet's net loss deepened to $268 million in FY22, from $188 million in FY21. The ASX-listed bookmaker declared an overall EBIDTA loss of $250 million.

Ex-dividend: $Adacel Technologies Ltd (ADA.AU)$, $Australian Ethical Investment Ltd (AEF.AU)$, $Accent Group Ltd (AX1.AU)$, $Bega Cheese Ltd (BGA.AU)$, $Blackmores Ltd (BKL.AU)$, $Carlton Investments Ltd (CIN.AU)$, $Endeavour Group Ltd (EDV.AU)$, $Humm Group Ltd (HUM.AU)$, $IRESS Ltd (IRE.AU)$, $NAOS Small Cap Opportunities Co Ltd (NSC.AU)$, $oOh media Ltd (OML.AU)$, $Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AU)$, $Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (TAH.AU)$, $Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (TWE.AU)$, $Wesfarmers Ltd (WES.AU)$, $Woolworths Group Ltd (WOW.AU)$

Dividends paid: $Abacus Property Group (ABP.AU)$, $Charter Hall Group (CHC.AU)$, $Charter Hall Retail REIT (CQR.AU)$, $GDI Property Group (GDI.AU)$, $Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Ltd (GMA.AU)$, $Growthpoint Properties Australia (GOZ.AU)$, $GPT Group (GPT.AU)$, $Liberty Financial Group Ltd (LFG.AU)$, $Mirvac Group (MGR.AU)$, $Scentre Group (SCG.AU)$, $Scalare Partners Holdings Ltd (SCP.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures fell -6.1% to US$98.2 a tonne. "The symposium of iron and steel enterprises in Tangshan last Friday emphasised the importance of reducing steel production capacity by 8.264 million mt in 2022. In this scenario, the market sentiment weakened," the Shanghai Metals Market said on Tuesday. For July, China's total export volume of flat steel stood at 4.3m tonnes, down -12.1% month-on-month, according to Mysteel.

• Oil prices tumbled almost -5% amid broad-based fears about the deteriorating economic outlook.