The local share market has drifted lower as the Reserve Bank begins deliberating on interest rates, with the day’s highlights including more losses for uranium companies and gains for goldminers.
At noon AEST on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 11.7 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 7,712.6, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 17.2 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,957.6.
The outcome of the Reserve Bank’s two-day meeting, one of eight for the year, will be announced on Tuesday afternoon.
“We expect the RBA to remain on hold and reiterate current guidance the Bank is not ‘ruling anything in or out’,” JP Morgan analysts Ben Jarman, Tom Kennedy and Jack Stinson wrote in a client note.
The Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and Norway’s Norges Bank also hold meetings this week.
The SNB in March became the first major central bank to cut rates this cycle, but it may not do so again this week after Swiss inflation held steady in May.
Domestically, a monthly survey of job ads by ANZ and help-wanted website Indeed showed Australia’s labour market continued softening in May, but still remains well above pre-pandemic levels.
Five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were in the red at midday, and six were in the green.
The tech sector was the biggest mover, down 1.1 per cent, followed by a 1.0 per cent collective loss for energy companies.
Wisetech Global had fallen 2.0 per cent, Nextdc had dropped 1.8 per cent and Woodside Energy had retreated 0.8 per cent.
There were more losses for uranium companies, which have been giving back some of their phenomenal gains for the year in recent weeks.
Paladin Energy was down 5.5 per cent, Boss Energy had subtracted 3.1 per cent and Deep Yellow was 4.5 per cent lower.
In the heavyweight mining sector, goldminers were mostly making up for some of last week’s losses as the precious metal rebounded to $US2,325 an ounce, after dropping below $US2,300 last week.
Newmont was up 0.8 per cent, De Grey had gained 3.0 per cent and Bellevue Gold had added 2.7 per cent, although Evolution and Northern Star were both flat.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP was down 0.7 per cent, Fortescue had dipped 0.3 per cent and Rio Tinto had dropped 0.5 per cent.
All of the Big Four banks were modestly higher, with Westpac adding 0.4 per cent, NAB up 0.3 per cent, ANZ gaining 0.2 per cent and CBA edging up 0.1 per cent.
In health care, Capitol Health was up 14.3 per cent to a one-year high of 28 cents and Integral Diagnostics had slipped 3.9 per cent to $2.44 after the two diagnostic imaging chains agreed to an all-scrip merger.
“The potential combination of the two businesses is compelling and logical and would see us create a leading player in Australian and New Zealand diagnostic imaging, with the scope and scale to transform the industry,” said Dr Ian Kadish, managing director and chief executive of Integral.
The Australian dollar was buying 66.06 US cents, from 66.13 US cents at Friday’s ASX close.