AU Morning Wrap: ASX Slips; Imugene Jumps on Patent Approval; Coal Stocks Smashed

US stocks shed early gains as a strong opening rally in Disney faded, Google parent Alphabet fell heavily for a second day and unemployment claims rose, but not by enough to alter the outlook for interest rates.

Markets continued to adjust to the likelihood benchmark rates will reach at least 5.1 per cent by July following Friday's jobs surprise and hawkish rhetoric from Fed policymakers.

Tech stocks led the declines, falling 1.4 per cent, with most sectors in the red. Consumer staples eked out a 0.1 per cent gain.

News Corp fell 3.5 per cent after reporting a 30 per cent drop in second quarter earnings. The publisher saw a double-digit fall in real estate and book publishing revenues.

Biotech Imugene led the gainers rising 7.4 per cent after announcing its B-cell activating immunotherapy PD1-Vaxx had gained US patent approval.

Listings in the two major capital cities Sydney and Melbourne dropped 16 per cent and 15 per cent over the month respectively.

The company announced it would slash its workforce by 1250 jobs, or 5 per cent, off the back of weaker revenue of $2.52 billion, down 7 per cent year-on-year. Net income fell 64 per cent to $US94 million.

Marcus Derwin will join the board as an independent non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee.

He joins with "an extensive background in corporate restructuring and M&A" having held senior roles at PwC, NAB, AMP Capital and KPMG.

• Nickel soared 6.41 per cent on the London Metal Exchange after commodities trader Trafigura discovered nickel cargoes it purchased from a trading partner did not contain the metal. The Geneva-based group said it would take a US$577 million impairment over what it called "systematic fraud".

• Iron ore reached its highest in a week ahead of data expected to show Chinese lending reached a record last month. Economists polled by Reuters predicted yuan loans by Chinese banks reached all-time highs in January as the government encouraged support for the reopening of the economy.

"It is expected that the enthusiasm for downstream procurement will gradually pick up this week," Huatai Futures wrote in a report.

The most-traded May ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trade 2.6 per cent ahead at 863 yuan (US$127.19) a tonne.

• Oil fell for the first time in four sessions in the wake of data showing US crude stockpiles increased for a seventh week. Brent crude settled 59 US cents or 0.7 per cent weaker at US$84.50 a barrel.

• Gold gave up early gains after an increase in unemployment claims lifted the US dollar off session lows. Gold for April delivery settled US$12.20 or 0.7 per cent lower at US$1,878.50 an ounce. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index dropped 2.36 per cent.