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Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day, and how the experts are seeing it.
The numbers: The Australian sharemarket has tumbled on Monday, weighed down by a negative lead from Wall Street, as inflation fears grip global markets.
The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.61 per cent, or 109.1 points, to 6,649.7 at midday. All sectors are down, with energy and mining stocks hit especially hard by the slump in commodity prices.
Wall Street finished a volatile week with another rollercoaster session.Credit:NYSE
The lifters: Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group was up 1 per cent after reporting strong sales in its first quarter; Pilbara Minerals and healthcare outfit Ebos Group were also in the green, up 2.35 per cent and 1.37 per cent, respectively.
Elsewhere, Liontown Resources jumped 6.42 per cent; Core Lithium added 4.33 per cent; and Insurance Australia group edged up 1.66 per cent after announcing an on-market by back of up to $350 million, following a High Court decision on business interruption on Friday.
The laggers: Cement manufacturer Adbri dived 19.6 per cent to $1.48 after announcing its CEO has stepped down following a hit to earnings; Costa Group slid 12.55 per cent after announcing a profit downgrade on its citrus business due to adverse weather; and lithium miner IGO dropped 5.55 per cent after it disclosed the unexpected demise of its chief executive. The miner did not disclose the cause of death.
Meanwhile, health insurer Medibank was down 3.55 per cent after reporting a ransomware attack last week. The company said on Monday that there was no evidence of customer data being taken, but added it will continue to investigate the security breach.
“Our ongoing investigation has found the unusual activity we detected in part of our IT network was consistent with a possible ransomware threat. Ransomware is a common and dangerous type of malicious software that works by locking up or encrypting files, so they are no longer accessible,” Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said.
The lowdown: The Aussie sharemarket has started the week on the wrong foot, driven by continuing inflationary pressures, dwindling commodity prices and a bout of bad company news.