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Equities were put under significant pressure with the market suffering its worst day since April as political risks and higher bond yields following the strong US Jobs data last week weighed on risk assets. The Materials sector was the main culprit of the weakness, gold stocks, in particular, taking a beating on the back of the tumble seen by the precious metal on Friday night.
- The ASX 200 fell -104pts / -1.33% to 7755
- The Consumer Discretionary Sector (+0.11%) was best on ground by default being the only sector in the black. Tech (-0.15%) also did well.
- Materials (-2.58%) was the weakest sector joined by Real Estate (-2.35%) and Utilities (-2.03%).
- Bapcor (BAP) +13.99% confirmed reports of a takeover bid by PE firm Bain Capital. More on this below.
- Strike Energy (STX) +13.16% rallied on reports Gina Rinehart is eyeing a takeover of the WA gas company.
- Nine Entertainment (NEC) -1.43% confirmed Chairman Peter Costello has stepped down fallowing an altercation with a journalist last week.
- Calix (CXL) -2.02% announced a new JV with German cement giant Heidelberg regarding the installation of their Leilac furnace technology along with early discussions regarding a full-scale commercial installation.
- CSR +0.11% takeover by France’s Saint-Gobain has received FIRB approval. The stock is trading less than 0.5% below the takeover price of $9/sh.
- Iron Ore continued to weaken throughout the session, down -4% in Asia today.
- Gold was also lower by -0.3%.
- US Futures are broadly flat .
