Australia shares slip as gold, metal stocks drag

Virgin Money UK

24/09/2021 02:40

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Friday,
dragged by heavyweight gold and metal stocks on weaker bullion
and copper prices overnight, while gains in energy stocks and
banks limited the losses.
    The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  fell 0.21% to
7,354.9 points as at 0137 GMT and headed for its third weekly
loss.
    Gold prices fell about 1% on Thursday, pressured by an
uptick in Treasury yields and an appetite for riskier assets, as
investors continued to position themselves for a
sooner-than-expected interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal
Reserve.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QP2GI
    In Australia, gold stocks  .AXGD  fell 2.5% as DGO Gold Ltd
 DGO.AX  lost 5.2% and SSR Mining Inc  SSR.AX  shed 5%.
    Heavyweights Newcrest Mining  NCM.AX  and Northern Star
Resources  NST.AX  declined as much as 2.1% and 3.2%,
respectively.
    Miners  .AXMM  fell 0.8%, with top global miner BHP Group
 BHP.AX  declining 1.4%, as London copper prices softened
overnight, pressured by worries of slowing recovery in the
United States.  MET/L 
    In contrast, the energy index  .AXEJ  rose 2%, led by
Woodside Petroleum  WPL.AX  gaining 2.9% and Washington H Soul
Pattinson and Company Ltd  SOL.AX  adding 1.7​% as oil prices
hit two-month highs on supply worries.  O/R 
    Technology stocks  .AXIJ  were up more than half a percent,
with Computershare Ltd  CPU.AX  rising 5%, followed by Afterpay
Ltd  APT.AX  gaining 1.1%.
    All three major U.S. indexes overnight gained more than 1%
as investors took relief in the Fed's stance on tapering
stimulus and raising interest rates.  .N 
    Australian banks  .AXFJ  rose 0.8%, with the "Big Four"
banks advancing up to 1%, while QBE Insurance Group  QBE.AX 
added more than 3%.
    Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50
index  .NZ50  fell 0.04% to 13,300.6.
    Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei  .N225  was up 1.83% at 30,180.69.

 (Reporting by Aditya Munjuluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
 ((aditya.srivastsav@thomsonreuters.com; 080 61822719;))
 
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