The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell by around 0.5% to 6,601 points.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE)
The Treasury Wine Estates share price fell by over 11% before going into a trading halt in response to China deciding to essentially put tariffs on Australian wine.
The ASX wine company said that it needed a trading halt whilst it prepares and releases an announcement about the decision of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to apply anti-dumping measures on Australian wine imports into Chinese.
Treasury Wine Estates is reviewing the details of the provisional measures as a matter of urgency in order to update the market.
According to reports in the media, such as the ABC, China has accused Australian producers of selling wine for below the cost of production.
From tomorrow, importers of Australian wine into China will need to pay temporary anti dumping security deposits. The charge will be in a range of between 107% to more than 200%.
The ABC quoted Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, who said: "It will render unviable for many businesses their wine trade with China and clearly we think it's unjustified, without evidence to back it up.
"It's a tax on Chinese consumers, essentially, but by taxing the product at such enormous, impactful levels, it will likely see consumers turn away from that, and that is what has the devastating impact on Australian producers."
It was the worst performer in the ASX 200.
MotorCycle Holdings Ltd (ASX: MTO)
Motorcycle dealership business MotorCycle Holdings gave a profit update to the market today.
The company expects to report underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) between $23 million to $25 million. Previous guidance had been in excess of $20 million of underlying EBITDA.
This underlying EBITDA guidance includes interest and amortisation on leased properties as an expense to enable comparison to prior periods when the lease expense was included.
However, the company said that given the exceptional trading circumstances due to COVID-19, care should be taken using this year's results as a guidance for future performance.
Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA)
Bega Cheese shares went up around 7% after coming back to the market after the announcement of its acquisition of Lion Dairy and Drinks. It was the biggest positive mover in the ASX 200 today.
It has successfully completed the underwritten institutional placement and the institutional component of its 1 to 4.5 pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer. This raised approximately $284 million. The take up rate was around 96%.
Bega Cheese executive Chair, Barry Irvin, said: "We are delighted with the support we receive for this company transforming acquisition. We have always enjoyed strong support from our shareholders and once again they embraced our vision of creating 'The great Australian food company'."
Other movements
Bega Cheese and Treasury Wine Estates were the biggest movers in the ASX 200 today.
Looking at the positive movers, the Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH) share price went up around 4%, the Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU) share price rose 3.5%, the Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX: DRR) share price rose 3.3% and the Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM) share price also went up 3.3%.
At the red end of the ASX, the TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE) share price fell by around 4%, the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price dropped 4%, the Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH) share price fell 3.7% and the Webjet Ltd (ASX: WEB) share price fell over 3%.
