AU Morning Wrap: ASX Slips; Watchdog Blocks Transurban Deal

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Sep 20, 2023 19:34

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• Big tech weighs on US stock market after Fed pause
• ASX slips as CSL dips
• Stocks to watch: CSL, Transurban, Fonterra
- Moomoo News AU

AU Morning Wrap: ASX Slips; Watchdog Blocks Transurban Deal

Wall Street Summary

For months, investors snapped up tech stocks as if they didn't believe the Federal Reserve's promise to slow the American economy by keeping interest rates higher. Wednesday gave the latest evidence that the tech trade is cooling.

The central bank unveiled its long-telegraphed rate-hike pause but warned of possible increases to come. Markets largely didn't like the message.

Bond yields hovered near at least 15-year highs, and big tech companies that powered the 2023 rally dragged down stocks, suggesting Wall Street is finally buckling in for a longer ride with higher borrowing costs.

Losses by Amazon.com, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Nvidia weighed the tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ down by 1.5% and pushed the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ 0.9% lower. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ fell 0.2%, or about 77 points.

AU Market Watch

The sharemarket has opened lower, following an overnight retreat from US markets on the back of still-hawkish rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve.

The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ opened 17.2 points, or 0.2 per cent, lower to 7146.1. The All Ordinaries posted a similar fall.

Early in trade, healthcare stocks are among the worst performing, down 0.9 per cent with sector heavyweight $CSL Ltd (CSL.AU)$ dipping 1.3 per cent.

In company news, $Transurban Group (TCL.AU)$ has been blocked for the first time by regulators from acquiring a toll road in Australia, after the competition watchdog ruled that it cannot proceed with a bid for Melbourne's EastLink toll road.

$Fonterra Shareholders Fund (FSF.AU)$ gained 2.6 per cent after the New Zealand dairy giant unveiled a full-year dividend of 50¢ a share, including interim dividend of 10¢ a share.

That adds to the 50¢ a share capital return given to shareholders following Fonterra's divestment of Soprole. The dividend arrived alongside the company's latest full-year financial results, in which Fonterra reported profit after tax of $NZ1.6 billion, up 170 per cent on the previous year.

Among small-cap stocks, $Anson Resources Ltd (ASN.AU)$ is among the best gainers, jumping 6.9 per cent following reports of "exceptional geological characteristics" at the explorer's Green River Lithium Project in Utah, US.

Stocks to Watch

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra says demand for the company's milk products should start to return early next year but is still flagging lower overall prices in its latest outlook.

The dairy producer is forecasting a farm gate price of $NZ6.00 to $NZ7.50 per kilogram of milk solids, with a midpoint of $NZ6.75. That compares to an average price of $NZ8.22 in the most recent financial year.

Australia's competition regulator is opposing the Transurban's acquisition of a majority interest in Horizon Roads after concluding that the transaction would be likely to "substantially lessen competition for future toll road concessions in Victoria".

Transurban is eyeing a 55 per cent stake in Horizon Roads Pty, which is owns the old ConnectEast and its EastLink motorway in Melbourne.