The Australian sharemarket slipped on Tuesday, weighed down by heavy falls in the healthcare and technology sectors despite Wall Street’s positive lead amid renewed optimism for a United States-China trade deal.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 43.1 points or 0.5%, to 9,012.5, with six of the 11 sectors finishing higher.
Healthcare stocks were the biggest drag, tumbling 7.4% overall as CSL plunged 15.9% after cutting its revenue guidance and delaying its Seqirus vaccine rollout in the United States.
Other health names followed suit, with Ramsay Health Care easing 1.1%, ResMed down 1.6%, and Pro Medicus off 0.2%.
The technology sector also slumped, led by WiseTech Global, which collapsed 15.9% after the Australian Federal Police and ASIC raided its Sydney offices and seized documents related to alleged trading by founder Richard White and three other employees.
Other tech names weakened, including TechnologyOne, Codan, and Life360, though Xero gained 1.1%.
Materials underperformed as gold prices remained below US$4,000, dragging down major miners. Northern Star, Evolution Mining, Newmont, and St Barbara were all down between 3% and 6%.
Financials helped stem the broader losses, with all major banks advancing. Commonwealth Bank rose 1.4%, NAB gained 2.5%, Westpac added 1%, and ANZ climbed 0.7%.
Consumer discretionary stocks also closed higher, led by Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, which gained 7.2% following reports in the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column that Bain Capital was considering a potential takeover bid. The company said it had received no takeover offer.
Other retail and leisure names followed suit, with Wesfarmers up 2.8%, Aristocrat Leisure higher by 0.6%, and JB Hi-Fi rising 0.8%.
In other corporate news, AUB Group surged 8.2% after revealing it had received an unsolicited, confidential, and non-binding takeover approach from private equity firm EQT.
On the bond markets, yields rose slightly, with the 10-year and 2-year government bond rates up 0.2% and 0.3% to 4.178% and 3.432%, respectively.
