PERTH: The Australian stocks 0.5 per cent weaker, after Wall Street slipped on the latest report from the US Federal Reserve and remained weakness in global commodity markets weighed on resources stocks.
At the 10.15am (AEDT) official market open, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 29.4 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 5,523.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 28.9 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 5,487.7 points.
IG market strategist Evan Lucas tipped energy stocks would struggle locally today after “energy stocks in the US got a further touch up as oil production numbers from the US reached another high.”
“The energy space is currently no place for longer-term investment and I would suspect the Australian energy space is in for another high single-digit percentage sell-off today as day traders have a field day with the risk in this part of the market,” he said.
In local economic news on Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases trade price index data for the December quarter.
In equities news, Fortescue Metals unveiled upbeat second-quarter production figures and was rewarded, with shares up 1.72 per cent to $2.075.
Beach Energy shed 2.15 per cent to 91c after it cut its full-year capital expenditure guidance as continued weakness in global oil markets weighed.
Oil Search delivered record full-year production, but its shares lost 3.85 per cent to $7.49.
This was part of a broader fall in the energy space, which was 2.76 per cent weaker as a sector.
Overnight, US crude prices landed at their lowest close in nearly six years on news that oil in storage is building up at a historic pace.
Santos gave up 3.29 per cent to $7.64, while Woodside Petroleum fell 2.62 per cent to $33.45.
Materials shed 0.5 per cent as a sector.
BHP Billiton retreated 0.62 per cent to $28.76, while rival Rio Tinto lost 0.46 per cent to $56.72.
