SYDNEY MARKET: ASX200 edges down, real estate stocks fall

30. Jul 2026

(AWP Alliance News) - Stocks in Sydney slipped on Thursday while blue-chip indices in Japan and South Korea recorded gains.

The US Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged at 3.50% to 3.75% on Wednesday, with 3 of the 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee calling for an increase.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, commented: "Fed does not see a material change in the outlook between June and July.

"If the new chair along with the majority of the FOMC did not think that the economic outlook warranted a rate hike then it will take a serious deterioration in the inflation outlook before the committee raises rates, in our view."

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 55.20 points, 0.6%, at 8,983.40 on Thursday afternoon.

Notable movers included Domino's Pizza Enterprises with shares up 11%, while WiseTech Global rose 6.3%, and News Corp gained 2.8%.

Liontown Resources fell 6.6%, James Hardie Industries lose 3.6%, and Qantas Airways was down 2.2%.

PLS reported record annual production and sales in the financial year ended June 30.

Shares rose 3.3%.

The lithium materials producer said revenue more than doubled to AUD1.93 billion in the financial year ended June 30, approximately USD1.35 billion, from AUD769 million a year earlier.

Production and sales both increased by 17% to 879,500 tonnes and 891,600 tonnes, respectively.

PLS beat its full-year production guidance of 820,000 tonnes to 870,000 tonnes.

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the total number of seasonally adjusted dwellings rose 7.2% month-on-month to 18,328 units in June from 17,019 units in May.

"The increase saw dwellings approved in the 2025-26 financial year at its highest level since 2020-21, with private sector houses at the highest level since 2021-22 and private sector dwellings excluding houses at the highest level since 2017-18," commented Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics.

Real estate stock were down in the session.

Stockland fell 3.6%, Charter Hall Group fell 2.9%, Vicinity Centres fell 1.7%, Scentre fell 1.5%, and Goodman edged down 0.5%.

Oil and gas producers were mixed with Woodside Energy up 0.3% and Santos up 0.2%, while Beach Energy fell 1.1%.

Around midday in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 784.22 points, 1.3%, at 62,218.41 on Thursday.

Shares in artificial intelligence-related companies rose.

Murata Manufacturing jumped 6.9%, Tokyo Electron climbed 5.3%, Hitachi rose 4.7% and Shin-Etsu Chemical gained 2.4%.

However, OpenAI investor SoftBank Group lost 1.7%.

Mizuho Financial was trading down 3.0%, Tokio Marine fell 2.6%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial fell 2.2%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 34.04 points, 0.9%, at 3,794.43. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 25.97 points, 0.1%, at 25,781.95. The FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index was down 956.42 points, 2.5%, at 37,728.40.

In Seoul, the Kospi rose 81.12 points, 1.4%, at 5,744.36. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was down 40.66 points, 0.7%, at 5,672.53. Over in Mumbai, the Nifty 50 closed up 264.85 points, 1.1%, at 24,250.20 on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics net profit attributable to shareholders surged to KRW71.270 trillion in the three months ended June 30, approximately USD49.53 billion, from KRW4.934 trillion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Sales more than doubled to KRW171.500 trillion and the company announced a dividend of KRW374 per share.

Samsung said: "The Memory Business achieved another record-breaking quarter by proactively addressing AI demand despite limited capacity with a primary focus on server products. The continued industry-wide upward trend of prices also contributed to the record earnings."

Shares in competitor SK Hynix fell 2.9%, while Samsung rose 3.6%.

Brent oil was quoted lower at USD86.79 a barrel early in London on Thursday from USD87.44 around the same time a day earlier. However, West Texas Intermediate rose to USD83.24 a barrel from USD82.40.

Gold was quoted up at USD4,070.92 an ounce against USD4,028.26.

The dollar weakened against the yuan to CNY6.7605 from CNY6.7731, against the yen to JPY163.46 from JPY163.71, and against the Australian dollar to AUD1.4367 from AUD1.4386.

Meanwhile, the euro strengthened to USD1.1454 from USD1.1396, while the pound strengthened to USD1.3351 from USD1.3294.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.69%, widening from 4.62%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.21%, widening from 5.10%.

In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.2%, the S&P 500 down 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.7%.

IG says futures indicate London's FTSE 100 is to open 0.6% lower on Thursday, with Frankfurt's DAX 40 up 0.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.5% higher.

Still to come on Thursday's economic events calendar are US gross domestic product figures, initial jobless claims and personal consumption expenditures. consumer confidence update for Japan is also due.

By Elijah Dale, Alliance News senior reporter Asia-Pacific

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