The ASX dipped today. The S&P/ASX200 dropped 14.50 points or 0.19% to 7,773.80. This index has lost 0.99% for the last five days but sits 1.73% below its 52-week high.
The bottom-performing stocks in this index are Boss Energy Ltd (ASX:BOE, OTCQX:BQSSF) and Healius Ltd, down 10.58% and 4.62% respectively.
Boss took the big hit after it was revealed key executives had sold a significant portion of their shares. Chief executive Duncan Craib, chair Wyatt Buck and director Bryn Jones collectively sold shares worth more than $26 million.
This sale involved a substantial amount of their personal shareholdings in the company, leading to the notable decline in the share price.
On the other hand, gold stocks were higher after a rise in the spot bullion price overnight. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM, TSX:NGT, ASX:NEM, ETR:NMM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:ASX:NST) were all winners.
Looking at the sectors, Consumer Staples won the day rising 0.22%, with Real Estate gaining a modest 0.09%. Industrials was the worst performed, losing 0.80% followed by Consumer Discretionary and Utilities, which fell 0.64% and 0.59% respectively.
Over on the small caps index, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) was down 0.85% for the day to 3,015.40. Over the five days, it has lost 2.11%.
Weak retail sales
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) highlighted the impact of ongoing cost-of-living pressures on consumer spending.
Retail sales in April increased by only 0.1% compared to March. Economists had predicted a slightly higher rise of 0.2%. This marginal growth reflects the strain that rising living costs are placing on consumer spending behaviour.
Anneke Thompson, chief economist at CreditorWatch noted, “Data released today by the ABS confirms that consumer spending in Australia is still very weak, with retail spending remaining flat since the start of 2024. Only ‘other retailing’ recorded any reasonable growth over April 2024, although this was impacted by the very early Easter and timing of school holidays over March and April.
“Westpac consumer confidence data confirms that Australian consumers remain extremely despondent. Although Treasury forecasts that income tax cuts and cost of living measures announced in the budget will assist in a recovery in real disposable income over the 2025 financial year, it remains to be seen if this will flow on to increased spending in the retail sector.
“Even if real disposable incomes do increase with income tax cuts, and weakening labour market and rising unemployment tends to make Australian consumers uneasy about over spending. It is likely, then, that Australian consumer confidence will remain weak even if they have more disposable income.
"A recovery isn’t likely until we see two or three cuts to the cash rate, as only then will mortgage holders start to feel more confident that they have some breathing space in their monthly budget.
“Given we are unlikely to see the second or third cut to the cash rate until the final quarter of the 2025 financial year, we expect that insolvencies in the retail sector will increase, especially amongst smaller, discretionary retailers. The retail trade sector has already recorded a 35 per cent increase in insolvency rates over the year to April 2024.”
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