By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 35.3 points or 0.5% to 6,962.6 during Thursday’s trade, snapping 4 consecutive sessions of gain and retreating from 8-week highs, with major oil companies led declines as crude oil prices traded around 2-week lows.
Among stocks, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) lost 1.6%, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) fell 2.3%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) shed 1.2%, Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) lost 2% and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) fell 1%.
Information Technology fell 1.9% with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) down 5.7%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) falling 1.2%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) dipping 3.2%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) down 1.7% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) falling 3.3%.
Financials retreated 0.9% with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) dipping 1%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) down 1.1%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) falling 0.7%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) losing 2.1% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) down 0.5%.
Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) also shed 10.9% after the company reported results and announced the departure of CEO Steve Vamos, to be replaced by ex-Google president Sukhinder Singh Cassidy.
Meantime, Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) surged 34.8% as a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management Inc (TSX:BAMa) offered a takeover bid at $9 per share, a near 60% premium from yesterday’s prices.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.727% while United States 10-Year yields were at 4.069%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 0.5% to 11,091.9.