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ASX closes 0.38% lower as Santos shares fall

PUBLISHED

2023-08-23

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Santos (ASX:STO) experienced a sharp drop to $7.73. This decline followed the company's announcement of a 32 per cent decrease in its first-half earnings, attributed to reduced production levels and the decline in prices for both oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas).

Santos' stock closed 1.02 per cent lower.

At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.38 per cent higher at 7,148.40.

Futures

The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 93 points.

The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 14.5 points.

The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 66.25 points.

The SPI futures are up 30 points.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector was Consumer Staples, up 1.77 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Information Technology, down 5.26 per cent.

The best-performing large cap was IDP Education (ASX:IEL), closing 9.49 per cent higher at $25.50. It was followed by shares in EBOS Group (ASX:EBO) and NEXTDC (ASX:NXT).

The worst-performing large cap was WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), closing 19.62 per cent lower at $69.60. It was followed by shares in Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) and Reece (ASX:REH).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has gained 0.52 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 1.07 per cent.

China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.06 per cent.

Company news

Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) reports important progress towards DFS completion in December for flagship Kachi Project in Argentina. The drilling, successful extraction and reinjection testing confirm the large scale and quality of the Brine Project. Lake CEO David Dickson said, “We have drilled deeper for better grades and improved our drilling performance by 40 percent this year.” Shares closed 2.13 per cent higher at 24 cents.

4DS Memory (ASX:4DS) has successfully completed the analysis of the Fourth Platform Lot and the results obtained are significantly better than the Board and management team at 4DS were expecting. Chief Technology Officer Mr Ting Yen stated, “These significant and robust results validate 4DS’ optimization strategy and the decision to establish a duplicate of imec’s custom testing hardware and software for the megabit array at the 4DS Fremont facility.” Shares closed 97 per cent higher at 13 cents.

Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN) defines 30 metre wide outcropping pegmatites at their Andover South project. In response, Mr Dusko Ljubojevic, Managing Director of Raiden commented: “multiple swarms of pegmatites are being noted throughout the license area with further areas to be mapped and sampled.” Shares closed 67 per cent higher at 2 cents.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,932.10 an ounce.

Iron ore is 2.7 per cent higher at US$113.30 a tonne.

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 3.99 per cent rise.

Light crude is trading $0.10 lower at US$80.25 a barrel.

One Australian dollar is buying 64.37 US cents.

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