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Australian shares succumb to 3rd straight day on Fed minutes; BHP drags (May 23).

Australian shares trimmed early losses but ended lower for a 3rd straight session on Thursday after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting called down hopes of early rate cuts, while worldwide miner BHP weighed on the criteria.

The S&P/ ASX 200 index ended 0.5% lower at 7,811.80 points.

Shares of BHP Group surrounded 3% lower after its takeover target British miner Anglo American rejected a sweetened quote, valuing it at 38.6 billion pounds ($ 49.10 billion).

On The Other Hand, Wall Street too ended lower as financiers parsed the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest conference.

The minutes worked as a tip that rates of interest relief in the United States is still at least several months down the track, which dented belief on equity markets, stated Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

Mining stocks ended 2.5% lower. The decrease in materials rates was most likely the bigger drag on BHP and the products sector today, included Waterer.

Gold stocks closed 3.7% lower, tracking declining bullion rates after minutes from the Fed's conference suggested it would wait on inflation to cool down before deciding on rate cuts.

Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources ended 4.3% and 3.3% lower, respectively.

Rate-sensitive financials ended 0.6% lower with the Big Four banks ending in red in between 0.8% and 1.1%.

Bucking the pattern, shares of power retailer Origin Energy ended 1.9% greater and also hit a practically 9 year high during the day after it concurred with the state of New South Wales to postpone the closure of Eraring coal-fired power plant by 2 years.

Technology stocks tracked the rally in chipmaker Nvidia after it estimated quarterly profits above expectations and announced a stock split.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/ NZX 50 index closed 0.7%. higher at 11,809.48 points.