Energy stocks offered investors a rare bright spot amidst the sharemarket’s biggest decline so far this month.P/ASX 200 Index finish down 57.2 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 7257.1 in a broad sell-off that pushed 10 of the 11 sectors lower. The All Ordinaries lost 0.7 per cent.The sharemarket extended declines throughout the session as the latest Q2 gross domestic figures showed the domestic economy expanded at a better-than-expected 0.4 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter.
But it was the financial sector that weighed on the ASX, with all of the big four banks finishing in the red, led by a 1.6 per cent decline in Westpac to $21.19. Sayona Mining shares sunk 4.4 per cent to 11¢ despite the lithium producer receiving the first cash proceeds for its Canadian spodumene operation, which is jointly owned by Sayona and Piedmont Lithium.
UBS analysts slashed ResMed’s US price target by 36 per cent to $US170 and downgraded the stock to neutral from buy, citing the likely regulatory success of Ozempic-like competitor drug. “The stock no longer looks exceptional on growth versus US peers,” the note said.