Australia Market falls on profit booking

Australian share market finished session lower on Wednesday, 29 28 June 2022, weighed down by an overnight fall on Wall Street and the locking in of gains after recent strong rally of the market. However, market losses capped in response to upbeat Australian retail sales data.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 63.41 points, or 0.94%, to 6,700.23. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 75.58 points, or 1.09%, to 6,878.86.

The top performing stocks in this index were LIONTOWN RESOURCES and SKYCITY RESOURCES, up 5.2% and 3.9% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were TYRO PAYMENTS and IMUGENE, down 16.67% and 13.95% respectively.

Total 8 of 11 sectors were lower along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Real Estate trust was worst performing sector, falling 4%, followed by information technology (down 2.8%), telecommunication services (down 2.2%), healthcare (down 1.5%), and materials (down 1.5%). Financial was the best performing sector, gaining +0.27%

Investors took cues from an overnight sell-off on Wall Street after dismal US consumer confidence data stoked recession concerns. US consumer confidence hit a 16-month low in June as worries about stubborn inflation left consumers to anticipate that the economy would slow significantly or even slide into recession in the second half of the year.

Shares of technology companies skidded on tracking a weak lead from tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index overnight. Block fell 6.2%, while accounting software producer Xero erased 6.4%.

Star Entertainment climbed 3.14% after the casino operator said it has appointed fintech firm Tyro Payments chief executive Robbie Cooke as its new head and managing director.

Tyro Payments plunged 21.2% after the company said Cooke will serve 6 months' notice before he joins Star Entertainment.

Energy stocks gained on upbeat oil prices.Energy heavyweights Woodside Energy and Santos advanced 3.1% and 1.9%, respectively, Lithium miner Liontown Resources jumped 17.4% after signing an offtake lithium supply deal with Ford Motor Co.

In economic news, Retail sales rose to a record A$34.2 billion, up a hefty 10.4% on May last year, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 104.485, bouncing back from below 104 earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6884.

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