China and the United States imposed new tariffs on each other's goods on Monday and neither side looks to be in the mood to compromise, raising the risk of a protracted battle that could chill investment and disrupt global trade.
The tense backdrop added to the general caution ahead of an expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this week. The Fed begins its two-day policy meeting later on Tuesday.
Shares in the energy sector were up, thanks to strength in crude oil prices. Crude oil experienced a solid rise in overnight trade, hitting four year highs in the process as sanctions look to impact Iranian oil exports and constraints to Venezuelan output. Oil Search was rising 2%, Woodside Petroleum was higher by more than 2% and Santos was gaining almost 4%.
Shares of materials and resources were performing well, despite thin trade for iron ore with a public holiday in China yesterday. Fortescue Metals (FMG) and Bluescope Steel (BSL) were both more than 2% higher.
Shares of airlines were negatively impacted with the price of fuel among the most significant costs for those businesses. Qantas (QAN) fell 1.5% while Virgin Australia (VAH) slid 3.3%.
Shares of banks and financial players declined, with big four banks were all weaker by 0.5% to 1.3%, with ANZ Bank (ANZ) the biggest decliner. Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank were down in a range of 0.1% to 0.5%.
Among individual stocks, Immutep's shares fell 2% after gaining almost 10% on Monday following news that the bio-pharma company signed a deal with Merck and Pfizer to test a cancerous tumor-fighting drug in a clinical trial backed by the two pharma giants.
CURRENCY: Australian Dollar declined against greenback and other major currencies on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7261, down from $0.7265 on Monday.
OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed mostly lower on Monday, after China canceled trade talks with the U.S. and as investors looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting.. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 181.45 points or 0.68% to finish at 26,562.05 and the S&P fell 10.30 points or 0.35% to 2,919.37, while the Nasdaq added 6.29 points or 0.08% to 7,993.25.
The major European markets ended softer on Monday. The DAX of Germany dropped 0.64%, the CAC of France fell 0.33% and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.42%.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
