Australian shares drop after hawkish Fed minutes; BHP falls on rejection

Mirvac

23/05/2024 02:23

May 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares tracked Wall Street
peers to trade lower on Thursday as investors assessed minutes
from the U.S. central bank's policy meeting, while global miner
BHP lost foothold after a third rejection from smaller rival
Anglo American.      
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  was down 1% at 7,766.50
points, as of 0047 GMT. The benchmark appeared poised for a
third straight day of losses, if current trend stands. 
    All the three major stock indexes on the Wall Street closed
lower overnight after the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes
revealed that the board discussed future interest rate hikes
considering the slow rate of disinflation, but retained faith
that price pressures would ease.  .N 
    Back in Sydney, mining behemoth BHP Group  BHP.AX  fell 2.7%
after its takeover target Anglo American  AAL.L  rejected the
Australian miner's third buyout proposal after market hours on
Wednesday. 
    Albeit, the British miner extended the offer period by
another week giving BHP more time to pitch another proposal. 
    Australian miners  .AXMM  retreated 2.5%, on track for their
worst session day since mid-March, after a broad sell-off across
most base metals.  MET/L 
    Shares of Rio Tinto  RIO.AX  and Fortescue  FMG.AX  lost
1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. 
    Financial stocks  .AXFJ  declined 1.1% with the "Big Four"
lenders trading in the red.
    Rate-sensitive real estate stocks  .AXRE  fell 1.5% to their
lowest levels in more than a week. Mirvac Group  MGR.AX  shed
0.7% while Dexus  DXS.AX  lost as much as 1.9% to its lowest
level in nearly six months.
    Energy stocks  .AXEJ  declined 1.1% as crude prices dropped
on worries that U.S. borrowing costs could be hiked again if
inflation surged, a move that could hurt oil demand.  O/R 
    Sector majors Woodside Energy  WDS.AX  and Santos  STO.AX 
slumped 1.3% each. 
    Gold stocks  .AXGD  fell 3.3%, set for their third
consecutive session of losses, as traders pulled back from bets
on U.S. Fed's rate cuts this year.  GOL/ 
    Northern Star Resources  NST.AX  and Evolution Mining
 EVN.AX  shed 3.1% and 3.8%, respectively.  
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  was largely
flat at 11,729.64 points.    
    
             

 (Reporting by Sneha Kumar; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Sneha.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))
 
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