By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 remained little changed at 7,149.4 after the first two hours of Monday’s trade, following losses of 0.1% last week as Real estate and Utilities led the gains while Energy and Materials dragged.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.4% lower.
Among stocks, Real estate lifted 1% with Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) up 0.5%, Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) adding 1.7%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) up 1.1% and Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) adding 1.2%.
Utilities gained 1.4% as Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) added 0.8%, Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX:MCY) gained 2.6%, Genesis Energy Ltd (ASX:GNE) added 2.1% and AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) gained 2.4%.
Energy lost 0.9% overall with Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) falling 0.9%, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) down 1.3%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) losing 2.2% and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) down 1.5%.
Materials fell 1.4% as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) dipped 2.1%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) lost 1.7%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell 4% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) lost 2.6%.
In company news, Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) dipped 1.1% the company warned about risk to its full-year outlook amid higher than expected catastrophe costs.
Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) dropped 1% after announcing the resignation of head of equities Paul Skamvougeras.
Ahead in the week, investor will be paying close attention to RBA Governor Lowe’s speech on Tuesday, as well as flash services and manufacturing PMIs for November. Meantime, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to raise its cash rate by 75bps later this week.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.615% while United States 10-Year yields were at 3.812%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.3% to 11,409.5.