AU Morning Wrap: ASX sinks 1.7%; Costa dives 11% on CEO resignation

Wall Street Summary
Major US indices revisited June lows as the Fed's fight with inflation starts to get ugly. The S&P 500 has now wiped away all the gains from 2021. Volatility remains high. Brace yourself for another difficult session.

US stocks sank on Friday, with the Dow slipping into bear-market territory as investors worried that the aggressive pace of the US Federal Reserve's monetary tightening may lead to a recession.

The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ dropped 1.6% to 29,590.41, the $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ sank 1.8% to 10,867.93 and the $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ was 1.7% lower at 3,693.23. For the week, the Dow plunged 4%, the Nasdaq was 5.1% lower and the S&P 500 was down by almost 5%.

AU Market Watch
Australian shares are poised to open sharply lower to start the final week of both the month and the quarter, with bears fully in control. The US listed shares of both BHP and Rio Tinto were hit hard, reflecting concerns about global growth and the ever dominate US dollar.

ASX futures were down 82 points or 1.25 down to 6478. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 125.5 points or 1.87 per cent on Friday.

Australian shares tumbled this morning. The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ lost 1.67 per cent to 6464.7 as of 10:17 am.

Stocks to Watch
$Ramsay Health Care Ltd(RHC.AU)$: Ramsay Health Care and the consortium of financial investors led by $KKR & Co(KKR.US)$ have mutually agreed to terminate discussions regarding a non-binding indicative takeover proposal.

Ramsay said it had engaged with the consortium in an effort to understand whether it could put forward a new proposal that would "provide appropriate value for shareholders and be able to be implemented in a reasonable timeframe".

$Superloop Ltd(SLC.AU)$: Superloop has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire VostroNet Holdings, a provider of wholesale fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) access networks and purpose-built student accommodation broadband.

Consideration for the acquisition is $35 million (before customary completion adjustments), comprising $24.5 million in cash and $10.5 million in Superloop shares.

$Costa Group Holdings Ltd(CGC.AU)$: Costa Group's chief executive and managing director, Sean Hallahan, will step down with effect from today.

$Link Administration Holdings Ltd(LNK.AU)$: Link Group has declared a fully franked special dividend of 8¢ per share to be paid on October 14.

The court dismissed the proposed acquisition of Link by Dye & Durham by way of a scheme of arrangement on Friday.

$Universal Store Holdings Ltd(UNI.AU)$: Universal Store has entered into a binding agreement to acquire designer, wholesaler and retailer of casual youth fashion apparel, Cheap THRILLS Cycles (CTC) in a $50 million deal.

$Syrah Resources Ltd(SYR.AU)$: Syrah Resources has advised that operations at its Balama graphite project in Mozambique have been interrupted by illegal industrial action by a small contingent of local employees and contractors.

Ex-dividend: $Imdex Ltd(IMD.AU)$

Dividends paid: $Excelsior Capital Ltd(ECL.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures rose 1.4% to US$98.9 last Friday.