Australian shares have decreased by 0.9% at 11:30am, in response to the Federal Reserve's concerns over inflation, mirroring Wall Street's decline. The Fed's minutes indicated a potential for further tightening of monetary policy, leading to a drop in treasuries, oil prices, and gold, while BHP's shares fell 3% due to rejection of its acquisition offer by Anglo American.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 69 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Information Technology, up 2.38 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Materials, down 2.52 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is Xero (ASX:XRO), trading 8.56 per cent higher at $134.61. It is followed by shares in Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY).
The worst-performing large cap is Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN), trading 4.66 per cent lower at $16.35. It is followed by shares in Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST).
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2394.40 an ounce.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.4 per cent fall.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.20 US cents.
