By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 lost 32.90 points or 0.44% to 7,452.30 after the first hour of trade on Tuesday, following gains of just 0.1% in the previous session as investors remained cautious in the face of rising interest rates and surging government bond yields, while energy companies retreated as lockdowns in China pushed Oil prices lower.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) dipped 1%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 1.1%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) lost 0.3% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) declined 1.2%.
Utilities also dipped 0.6% collectively as Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX:MCY) lost 2.8%, Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) fell 1.7% and APA Group (ASX:APA) dipped 0.6%.
Materials companies remained mixed overall, with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) up 0.8%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) down 0.2%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) up 0.7%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) down 3.1% and Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) falling 6.3%. Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) firmed 1.6% after reporting record quarterly production and sales revenue for the period ending March 31.
Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) declined 0.4% after rejecting Perpetual's (ASX:PPT) takeover offer and announcing an $A100 million buyback.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 7-year highs of 3.07% while United States 10-Year yields were at 40-month highs of 2.822%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dipped 0.3% to 11,895.