Australian Shares Fall; DroneShield Says Fall in Shares May Have Been Triggered by Directors’ Disposals
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Australian shares closed lower on Thursday, amid US President Trump’s legislation to end the US government shutdown.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% or 46.1points to close at 8,753.4.
The government can now resume normal operations, and federal employees can return to work on Thursday. However, it may take days or weeks to clear the backlog from the shutdown, Bloomberg reported.
“Data-starved investors are hoping the imminent end of the Government shutdown will mean the economic data will begin to flow again so a clearer read on the world’s biggest economy can be derived,” said Harry Ottley, economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
On the domestic front, Business confidence in Australia fell 2 points in October, but remains just above its long-run average after improving through mid-2025, National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) said.
Consumer inflation expectations fell by 0.3 percentage points in November to 4.5% from 4.8% in October, according to the Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Inflationary Expectations.
In company news, DroneShield (ASX:DRO) said that, based on investor feedback, the recent drop in its shares could be attributed to its disclosure of the disposal of its shares by certain directors on Wednesday. Shares of the company fell past 31% in recent Thursday trade.
GrainCorp (ASX:GNC) reported fiscal 2025 earnings of AU$0.18 per share, down from AU$0.275 a year earlier. Shares of the company fell 11% at market close.
Lastly, Webjet Group (ASX:WJL) reported preliminary fiscal first-half underlying after-tax net profit of AU$7.8 million, up from AU$6.7 million a year earlier, according to a Thursday filing with the Australian bourse. Shares of the company fell past 17% at market close.
