In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the month with a disappointing decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 1% to 7,587.7 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
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Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD)
The Ampol share price is down over 3% to $35.60. Investors have been selling this fuel retailer's shares since the release of its first-quarter update on Tuesday. That update revealed a Lytton Refiner Margin (LRM) 21% lower than the prior corresponding period at US$11.80 per barrel. This was short of expectations, with Jefferies forecasting an LRM of US$13.00 per barrel and Morgan Stanley expecting around US$15.00 per barrel. Macquarie remains positive, though. This morning, the broker has retained its outperform rating with a trimmed price target of $40.35. This implies a potential upside of 13% for investors over the next 12 months.
Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV)
The Endeavour share price is down almost 4% to $5.15. This follows news that Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) has agreed to sell 5% of the issued capital of Endeavour Group via a block trade at a price of $5.22 per share. This represents a 2.6% discount to where the Dan Murphy's owner's shares ended yesterday's session. Woolworths will be left owning 4.1% of the drinks giant following this sale. It has committed to retaining its remaining shares for a period of at least 60 calendar days, subject to customary exceptions.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)
The Northern Star share price is down almost 4% to $14.37. Investors have been selling Northern Star and other ASX gold mining shares on Wednesday following a sharp pullback in the gold price overnight. Traders were selling the precious metal after bond yields widened. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is down by 3.8%. The good news is that Northern Star shares remain up 20% over the last six months despite today's weakness.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
The Santos share price is down 2% to $7.54. This has been driven by a pullback in oil prices overnight, which is weighing on a number of energy producers today. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price was down 1.25% to US$81.60 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price was down 0.6% to US$87.87 a barrel following another round of disappointing inflation and economic data.
