Miners prop up ASX, CBA slumps; Nine, Domain surge

The Australian sharemarket has shed early gains to be in the red at lunchtime on Friday after a soft lead from Wall Street overnight.

The ASX moved 7.5 points, or 0.1 per cent lower to 8315.3 at 12.19pm AEDT, with five of 11 sectors in the green, led by utilities and materials. Consumer discretionary and telecommunications stocks are leading the declines.

The miners are higher, led by Rio Tinto (up 2.3 per cent) and BHP (up 1.8 per cent), while Fortescue is up 1.5 per cent. Iron ore prices rose by 1.7 per cent overnight.

Shares in Domain (up 40.1 per cent) and its controlling shareholder Nine Entertainment (up 25 per cent) surged after US property giant CoStar lobbed a $2.7 billion takeover bid for the real estate platform.

Mexican fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez reported a 27 per cent rise in its revenue for the first half, to $212.4 million, and said it was on track to exceed the forecasts for full-year profit in its prospectus. Shares in the company, which floated on the ASX last year, were 9.5 per cent lower in early trade.

QBE shares lifted 8.3 per cent after the insurance giant said profits had soared 31 per cent to $US1.8 billion ($2.8 billion) in the 2024 financial year.

The insurer declared a dividend of 87 cents per share, up from 62 cents the previous year. The average premium rate increase was 5.5 per cent 20 per cent franked, down from 9.7 per cent, following easing inflation and lower claims. However, premiums in Australia, on average, rose 8.4 per cent compared to North America (7.3 per cent) and the rest of the world (3.7 per cent).

The big four banks lost early gains to all be in negative territory, led by CBA (down 2 per cent). ANZ, Westpac and NAB are all 0.1 per cent lower.

Overnight, a sharp slide from retail giant Walmart weighed on US stock indexes.