The Australian sharemarket extended losses on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index dropping 0.5% amid investor anxiety over the imminent US Federal Reserve interest rate decision. The materials sector, particularly mining giants like BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue, suffered significant declines due to falling iron ore prices and concerns about China’s property market. Additionally, interest rate sensitive tech stocks fell ahead of the Fed announcement, while Macquarie upgraded Woodside to an “outperform” rating, leading to a 2.6% rise in its shares.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 41 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 5.5 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 24.75 points.
The SPI futures are down 37 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Energy, up 1.01 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Utilities, down 1.08 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS), closing 2.58 per cent higher at $27.79. It was followed by shares in JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) and Pro Medicus (ASX:PME).
The worst-performing large cap was Atlas Arteria (ASX:ALX), closing 4.35 per cent lower at $4.84. It was followed by shares in Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and The a2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M).
Asian markets
Japan’s Nikkei has lost -0.66 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost -1.13 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.39 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,332.10 an ounce.
Iron ore is -4.3 per cent lower at US$103.80 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a -0.9 per cent fall.
Light crude is trading $0.63 higher at US$78.53 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.20 US cents.