The Australian market slipped at open as investors wait to see what next Tuesday’s (10 December) Reserve Bank of Australia holds on the rate cut front.
The S&P/ASX200 dipped 25.60 points, or 0.30%, to 8,449.30 points at 10.32am AEDT. The majority of sectors were lower with industrials edging back 0.14%, materials down 0.06% and energy shifting 0.05% lower.
Utilities is the best performing sector, gaining 0.41% and rebounding from its recent decline. The sector is down 1.25% this week.
Uranium miner Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) was an outlier, rising 2.58% to $7.75. Gold miner Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) also moved up in early trade, increasing 1.52% to $2.67.
On the other end of the scale, rare earths producer Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) retreated 7.30% to $5.08.
This was despite the company announcing a positive outcome to the funding discussions with the Australian Government for its Eneabba refinery development.
The government has agreed to contribute an additional $400 million, in addition to its $1.25 billion non-recourse loan via the Critical Minerals Facility administered by Export Finance Australia.
This was necessary due to an anticipated cost increase to between $1.7 and $1.8 billion, from $1.2 billion originally, to build the refinery. Iluka will contribute an additional $214 million cash equity.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & Stock
