Australia's share market trimmed most of its early decline as US futures slightly rose. The S&P/ASX 200 index decreased by 0.2 per cent at 7512 around midday, after initially falling as much as 0.5 per cent to a six-day low of 7494.4 points.
The decline was broad but mostly small, with the exception of the utilities and tech sectors where AGL dropped 9.8 per cent due to disappointing results and Xero fell 2.9 per cent . ANZ rose 0.7 per cent after its trading update, while other banks were little changed.
The materials sector saw mixed results for iron ore miners and weakened performance from gold and lithium players.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 20 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Health Care, up 0.59 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Utilities, down 2.34 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY), trading 6.18 per cent higher at $5.84. It is followed by shares in IDP Education (ASX:IEL) and ASX (ASX:ASX).
The worst-performing large cap is AGL Energy (ASX:AGL), trading 9.57 per cent lower at $7.18. It is followed by shares in Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) and New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC).
Asian news
Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded lower on Thursday, as investors assessed further risks of more rate hikes to come. A number of Federal Reserve speakers reiterated the central bank is yet to be finished with its hiking cycle, including Fed Governor Christopher Waller.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.58%, the Topix fell 0.21%.In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.56% and the Kosdaq shed 0.12%.
All sectors lower, with big tech a drag
All sectors were lower today in the wake of Tuesday afternoon's rally. FANMAGs were mostly lower today with GOOGL-US the big decliner after its Bard chatbot stumbled in a demonstration; meanwhile MSFT -US not as bad, cushioned by ongoing positive AI sentiment. Retail/apparel was broadly down; UAA-US beat but analysts flagged margin concerns. Homebuilders were weak despite an uptick in weekly mortgage applications. Restaurants were mostly lower with some focus on CMG-US paring recent gains after its earnings miss. Multis (EMR-US ), utilities, paper/packaging, grocers, semis lagged as well. Many meme stocks were weaker; BBBY -US gave back some of Tuesday's big rally. Few outright gainers though autos outperformed ( TSLA -US the standout though most EVs down). Managed care, larger-cap pharma, and select distributors cushioned healthcare. Several insurers added to solid WTD gains. Media, oil services, A&D, and waste also held up better.

Sumber : sharecafe.com.au