ASX Falls as Northern Star Resources Drags Down Markets

2024-07-09 01:52:33

The news:

The Australian sharemarket finished lower as gold miner Northern Star Resources led losses amid broader falls for the major miners and banks ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision on Tuesday.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.16% to end at 8589.3 with six of the 11 sectors finishing in the red.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is
sending letters
to trading partners outlining higher tariff rates ahead of 9 July, when a pause on the commencement of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs was meant to lift.

However, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick
suggested the commencement date
had been pushed back to 1 August.

Biggest movers:

• Northern Star Resources (-8.7%) – The worst ASX 200 performer
  reported gold sales
  for financial year 2025 at the lower end of the revised guidance and set a weaker-than-expected forecast for financial year 2026.
• Big Banks – Commonwealth Bank (-0.1%), NAB (-0.3%), Westpac (-0.5%) and ANZ (-0.6%) finished lower.
• Materials sector (-0.9%) – The worst performing sector saw losses for BHP (-0.3%) and Rio Tinto (-0.2%). Fortesuce (+0.1%) finished higher.
• Origin Energy (+6.8%) – UK-based Octopus Energy, which is minority-owned by Origin, is
  reportedly considering
  selling off a stake in its technology arm Kraken, which could be valued at up to £10 billion ($20.9 billion). Utilities (3.5%) was the best performing sector and Origin led ASX 200 gains.
• Bellevue Gold (+1.6%) –
  Reported record
  monthly mining and processing in June, which the company says positions it favourably going into financial year 2026.

Mining news:

• Ramelius Resources (-0.4%) –
  Reported full-year
  gold production that beat its upgraded guidance range.
• South32 (-0.6%) – The diversified miner
  agreed to sell
  its Cerro Matoso ferronickel mine in Colombia to a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate CoreX for US$100 million ($153 million).
• Mineral Resources (-2%) – Appointed Lawrie Tremaine and Ross Carroll as
  independent non-executive directors
  , effective today, filling vacancies after an exodus earlier this year.

Deals news:

• TPG Telecom (+0.2%) – The
  Foreign Investment Review Board
  approved Vocus’ proposed $5.25 billion acquisition of TPG’s Enterprise, Government and Wholesale fixed business and fiber network assets.
• Star Entertainment (0%) –
  Could pay
  Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium $36.5 million if a deal is not reached regarding the sale of its stake in the Queen’s Wharf casino and entertainment complex joint venture by 31 July.
• Washington H Soul Pattinson (-0.1%) and Brickworks (-1%) – The two companies’ proposed merger is
  fully funded
  after its future combined entity TopCo received an additional $220 million worth of equity commitments.

Other news:

• Synlait Milk (+8%) – The New Zealand dairy producer announced chief operating officer Paul Mallard
  will leave
  in December.
• Nanosonics (+1.6%) –
  Launched trophon3
  , a new automated product for disinfecting ultrasound probes, and a software upgrade for existing trophon2 customers to bring features of its latest product to the older device.
• Lifestyle Communities – Shares in the retirement property developer
  entered a trading halt
  ahead of a decision by the president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on proceedings relating to unethical conduct. According to the
  Australian Financial Review
  , the Tribunal ruled that Lifestyle Communities had been charging significant exit fees without proper disclosure which should be stopped, although orders have yet to be issued.

What’s ahead:

• NAB will release the results of its monthly business confidence survey for June tomorrow at 11:30am.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will announce its interest rate decision and release its rate statement tomorrow at 2:30pm.
• RBA governor Michelle Bullock will deliver a press conference on the interest rate decision at 3:30pm.

This article was originally published on
Capital Brief
as
ASX closes lower; Northern Star Resources led losses
.