By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 17 points or 0.2% to 7,088.4 after the first hour of Wednesday’s trade, snapping two sessions of consecutive gains as market participants monitored a fresh slew of local earnings updates.
ASX 200 Futures were trading 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) declined 3.8% after reporting that profit declined 5% amid lower plasma donations. The company grew revenue by 2% driven by an “exceptional” performance by CSL’s flu vaccine business Seqirus.
Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) fell 0.2%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) dipped 1.3% Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) fell 2.9% and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) lost 1%
Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) retreated 1.4% despite delivering record free cash flow of $US1.7 billion and underlying earnings of $US1.3 billion for the first half thanks amid surging oil and LNG prices.
Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) fell 0.6%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) added 0.2% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) lost 1.5%.
Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG) fell 3.5% despite reporting a net profit after tax of $55.3 million for the 2022 financial year, while revenue increased 23.2% to $356.7 million and EBITDA rose 21.4% to $122.1 million.
Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) lost 1.4%, Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK) fell 0.1% and Telstra Corporation Ltd. (ASX:TLS) added 0.3%
On the bond markets Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.304% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.82%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 0.2% to 11,829.4.