At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.46 per cent lower at 7,280.30.
Australia’s GDP grew by 0.4% in the three months to June, surpassing expectations due to increased business investment, despite weaker household spending and declining productivity, resulting in an annual GDP growth rate of 2.1% with expectations of further moderation throughout the year, indicating a soft landing for the economy in line with the Reserve Bank’s inflation target.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 24 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Energy, up 1.53 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Information Technology, down 1.29 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC), trading 1.81 per cent higher at $6.455. It is followed by shares in Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL) and Santos (ASX:STO).
The worst-performing large cap is Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL), trading 3.47 per cent lower at $31.265. It is followed by shares in ResMed (ASX:RMD) and Altium (ASX:ALU).
Company news
Live Verdure Ltd (ASX:LV1) has successfully completed $1.68 million placement to fund NPD, retail growth & partnership opportunities. Proceeds of the raising will also enable the Company to progress partnership discussions and conduct further due diligence on prospective partnership and M&A opportunities.
Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) announced that follow up drilling confirms Bekajang’s ‘multi-storey’ endowment. In response, Interim Chairman, John Seton, commented: “With unparalleled funding capacity for a junior, we intend to exploit these results with further drilling to identify the source of these exceptional gold grades.”
Si6 Metals (ASX:SI6) announced that drilling has commenced at flagship Dibete Copper- Gold Project today. The first hole will test the oxidised zone and into the primary zone.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1950.10 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.2 per cent higher at US$118.75 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are flat.
One Australian dollar is buying 63.59 US cents.