By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The ASX 200 was 31.20 points or 0.43% lower at 7,212.70 in Tuesday’s deals, reversing gains of 0.4% in the previous session, with financials, healthcare, utilities posting losses while materials are outperforming after BHP’s strong first half result.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.41% higher.
Among stocks, Energy companies are down 1.68% following yesterday’s rally of 3.36%. Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) lost 7.69%, Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) lost 1.86% and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 2.53%
Financials also posted declines of 1% collectively, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) down 1.47% Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) falling 1.31%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) down 0.33%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) losing 1.63% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) dipping 0.75%.
Materials bucked the trend however, gaining 1%, with BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) up 2.42% after posting a record interim dividend of $US1.50 per share and reporting profits from operations at $US14.8 billion, while revenues rose 27% to $US30.52 billion. Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lost 0.36% and 1.27% respectively.
Meantime, Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) surged 14.21% after results beat market expectations, posting a 74% lift in revenue and a 378% lift in net profits.
Technology companies were mixed overall. Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) added 2.53%, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) gained 0.74%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) lost 1.44%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) dipped 1.2%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) added 1.69% and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) lost 0.83%.
Ahead in the session, investors will be closely monitoring the latest RBA meeting minutes for further views on the inflation outlook, as policymakers continue to discuss the timing for the first cash rate rise in a decade.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were near fresh 35-month highs of 2.199% while United States 10-Year rates were at 1.986%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 0.29% to 11,916.