At lunch on Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has given back some of yesterday's strong gains and is down 0.5% to 5,742.9 points.
Although most sectors have dropped lower, today's fall is largely attributable to heavy declines in the energy and consumer sectors.
Here's what has been happening on the ASX 200 on Tuesday:
Metcash share price continues its decline.
On Monday the Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) share price was amongst the worst performers on the market after the release of a disappointing half year result. The wholesale distributor is once again sinking lower and is down 8.5% at lunch after the release of a series of bearish broker notes. A note out of Citi, for example, reveals that it has a sell rating and price target of $2.45 on its shares.
Energy shares sink lower.
Despite a rise in oil prices overnight thanks to the trade war truce, Australian energy shares have been a major drag on the ASX 200 today. At lunch the Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price has dropped 2.5% and the Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) share price is down 1.5%.
Coles shares drop to a new low.
So far on Tuesday it has been another disappointing day of trade for the Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) share price. The supermarket giant's shares dropped to a new low of $11.40 this morning. This meant that the Coles share price had fallen 15% since peaking at $13.37 last month. Concerns over its future growth have largely been behind the decline.
Best and worst performers.
At lunch the best performer on the ASX 200 is the A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price with a gain of just over 2.5%. The infant formula company's shares have pushed higher on the back of no news. Going the other way is the Metcash share price with its 8.5% decline. Not far behind is the Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) share price which has fallen 5.5%. The graphite miner was a strong performer on Monday after the release of a positive production update. This could mean that profit taking is weighing it down today.
