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ASX closes X% higher/lower: Consumers becoming cautious

PUBLISHED

2023-09-21

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Consumers are becoming more cautious due to rising living costs, but UBS analysts believe this doesn't indicate an immediate drop in spending, as they note a slight improvement in future interest rate expectations; however, sticky inflation and the ongoing cost-of-living pressures are causing consumers to allocate more of their budgets to essential expenses, while discretionary spending is expected to decrease, with households showing signs of reduced rate anxiety after recent RBA rate hikes.

At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.37 per cent lower at 7,065.20.

Futures

The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 60 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 11.50 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 54.50 points.
The SPI futures are down 105 points.

Best and worst performers

All sectors are in the red. The sector with the fewest losses was Information Technology, down 0.05 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Energy, down 1.96 per cent.

The best-performing large cap was South32 (ASX:S32), closing 1.50 per cent higher at $3.38. It was followed by shares in Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation (ASX:FPH).

The worst-performing large cap was Allkem (ASX:AKE), closing 4.59 per cent lower at $11.64. It was followed by shares in IGO (ASX:IGO) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has lost -1.37 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost -1.26 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost -0.68 per cent.

Company news

Immutep (ASX:IMM; NASDAQ:IMMP) announces the regulatory authorisation of “efti”, which is the Company’s proprietary soluble LAG-3 protein, for the use in clinical trials across multiple European countries. In response, Marc Voigt, CEO of Immutep, said, “Commercial scale manufacturing of efti for use in clinical trials is a significant achievement and brings us closer to realising efti’s potential to help cancer patients worldwide.” 

Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL, FSE:VUL) has been granted a new geothermal and lithium brine exploration licence into Frankfurt. The region of Frankfurt that the licence has been granted, includes a number of large industrial areas including Frankfurt Airport, which is a heavy energy consumers that requires large quantities of renewable energy and heating solutions. 

Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC) has received a transformational $10.1 million strategic capital investment by Delin Mining Group Cooperation. Commenting on the Strategic Investment, AGC Chairman, Mr David Richardson said, ”the significant premium to market price is clear evidence of the attractiveness of the drill ready targets in our South Cobar Project.” 

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,948.70 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.5 per cent higher at US$124.65 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a -1.8 per cent fall.
Light crude is trading $-1.01 lower at US$90.28 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 64.15 US cents.

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