AU Evening Wrap: ASX Ends 1.5% Down; All Sectors Fall, Led by Tech, Materials

The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ ended the session down 109.8 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 7195.2. The All Ordinaries fell by about the same amount.

Closer to home, all 11 ASX sectors ended the session in the red. The interest rate sensitive Australian tech sector was the worst performing, down 3 per cent. $WiseTech Global Ltd(WTC.AU)$ was off 3.9 per cent, $Xero Ltd(XRO.AU)$ fell 2.6 per cent and $Nextdc Ltd(NXT.AU)$ dropped 2.1 per cent.

The materials, financials and industrials sectors all lost more than 1 per cent. Benchmark heavyweight $CommBank(CBA.AU)$, which traded ex-dividend as of Tuesday, dropped 3.7 per cent.

In corporate news, $Fletcher Building Ltd(FBU.AU)$ was the worst performing on the benchmark index, down 8.9 per cent. The building products group cut back its final dividend payout to NZ16¢ from NZ22¢ a year earlier after net profit slid by 46 per cent to $NZ235 million

Landlord and fund manager $Dexus(DXS.AU)$ dropped 3.5 per cent after swinging to a full-year statutory net loss of $752.7 million, weighed down by hefty write-downs on its portfolio.

$Vicinity Centres(VCX.AU)$ climbed 2.5 per cent even after booking lower net profit of $271.5 million for its 2023 financial year, down from $1.21 billion.

$Bapcor Ltd(BAP.AU)$ shares were the best performing overall, up 5.9 per cent after the company published its full-year report. UBS analyst Tim Piper said the greater cash conversion and lower net debt were highlights in the autopart group's otherwise in-line full-year result.

$Mirvac Group(MGR.AU)$ rose 5.3 per cent. That's despite the property developer warning its earnings would fall further in its latest full-year report.

$Endeavour Group Ltd(EDV.AU)$ slid 3.8 per cent after the Dan Murphy's owner didn't provide earnings guidance for the 2024 financial year. Earnings and profits for the 2023 fiscal year also fell short of consensus.

$Transurban Group(TCL.AU)$ retreated 0.9 per cent after full-year earnings came in below analysts' expectations. Chief financial officer Michelle Jablko will also succeed Scott Charlton as chief executive of the $43 billion tollroad group.