Australian: Shares dive on hawkish Federal Reserve; Perpetual soars on rejecting buyout bid

AUSTRALIAN shares fell on Thursday, tracking overnight Wall Street losses, after hawkish messaging from the US Federal Reserve and a steep rate hike, while asset manager Perpetual rose more than 10 per cent on rejecting a buyout bid.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell about 2.2 per cent to 6,836.7, as of 0030 GMT. The benchmark ended 0.1 per cent higher on Wednesday.

Wall Street ended sharply lower overnight, as comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the Fed was nowhere close to slowing down the pace of monetary tightening, after raising rates by 75 basis points for its fourth consecutive meeting.

Back in Sydney, heavyweight miners fell 3.4 per cent despite rising iron ore prices. BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group dropped between 2.8 per cent and 3.4 per cent.

Financials also dropped 1.6 per cent, with all of the “Big Four” banks losing between 1.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent. However, Perpetual was last up about 9 per cent, becoming the second-biggest gainer on the benchmark index after it rejected a US$1.07 billion buyout offer from a consortium of overseas and local private equity and funds management firms.

New Zealand-based dairy firm a2 Milk was the highest gainer after it got temporary approval to export infant milk formula to the United States.

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Australia: Shares inch higher ahead of Fed decision

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Shares of grocer Woolworths Group fell as much as 3.3 per cent, as sales at its main Australian supermarkets unit contracted. It also dragged the consumer sector index down 2.1 per cent. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was down 0.5 per cent at 11,229.71. a2 Milk and its supplier Synlait Milk were the biggest gainers, rising 7.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively.

New Zealand’s central bank governor said he was confident the central bank would get inflation under control. REUTERS