ASX slips from record; Amcor dips on $13b tie-up

Rising geopolitical concerns sent the sharemarket lower on Wednesday as traders took the opportunity to book profits from strong gains in the previous session.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 47.7 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 8326.3 after the bourse touched a record closing high on Tuesday, led by gains in energy and tech stocks.

Those same sectors were among the worst performing on Wednesday. Energy stocks fell 1 per cent, despite oil prices holding steady amid renewed worries about an escalation in the Russia and Ukraine war.

Overnight on Tuesday, Ukraine struck a military base in Russian territory using its recently acquired long-range missile capabilities. Moscow, which has warned against such action, issued a decree allowing the use of nuclear weapons in the event of attacks on Russian targets.

Geopolitical risks

“Despite an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war, there has been limited impact on oil prices,” said ING commodity strategist Warren Patterson.

He said “eating into some of the geopolitical risks related to Russia-Ukraine” were reports that Iran had offered to stop increasing its stockpiles of uranium ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in January.

“If this occurs, it removes some supply risks related to Iranian oil when President-elect Trump enters office.”

Tech stocks also edged lower ahead of the latest earnings report on Thursday (AEST) from US-listed semiconductor giant Nvidia, which is long considered a bellwether for emerging demand for artificial intelligence.

Gold prices rose for the third session, capping a 2.5 gain since Monday as traders bid up the price of the haven asset to a record above $US2630 an ounce. ASX gold miners responded in kind. West African Resources rose 2.4 per cent to $1.50 and Evolution Mining gained 1 per cent to $4.95.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, dual-listed packaging giant Amcor slipped 1.2 per cent to $15.51 following news overnight that the company will buy New York-listed packaging business Berry Group in a deal valued at around $US8.4 billion ($13 billion).

Automotive cooling parts provider PWR Holdings dived 24.6 per cent to $6.85 after flagging its profit after tax in the first half of FY25 was likely to fall below the near $10 million that the company banked in the year-earlier period.

Nick Scali, one of the country’s largest furniture retailers, warned that its ability to achieve its prior guidance was at risk after one of the freight forwarders it used fell into liquidation. The shares dropped 1.7 per cent to $13.84.

Dual-listed uranium developer NexGen Energy rallied 5.9 per cent to $12.90 after securing a key permit from Canadian regulators.

And Healius snapped a three session losing streak to rise 2.3 per cent to $1.34 after the stock was upgraded to a neutral rating by analysts at Citi. The shares had fallen 15 per cent on Friday when the company warned that it may need to close laboratories due to funding cuts.