ASX snaps five-day winning streak as more US tariffs shake sentiment — as it happened

Thanks for your company throughout the day.

We'll be back to do it all again tomorrow, but if you're eager for more business news, you can catch The Business on ABC News at 8:45pm, after the late news on ABC TV, and anytime on ABC iview.

The personal information of 16,000 subscribers of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review has been exposed by a data breach.

Nine confirmed the data breach occurred through one of its third-party suppliers, with the name, postal address and/or email address of 16,000 subscribers shared online.

However, a Nine spokesperson confirmed that the data did not include any credit card or bank details, or passwords.

Here's the full statement from a Nine spokesperson:

"We have been made aware by a security researcher that certain personal information held by a third party supplier was not protected to the level of Nine's strict internal data protocols after an unauthorised change.

"This included a limited number of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review print subscriber records.

"While there has been no breach of Nine's internal technology infrastructure, Nine treated this matter seriously and worked with the third party to resolve the issue.

"The customer personal information that was held by the provider was limited to name, postal address and/or email address. The data did not include credit card details or passwords.

"Nine is directly contacting all subscribers whose records were involved."

While the ASX 200 ended its five-day winning streak, it was a mixed bag across the sectors.

Four out of the 11 ended higher, with energy leading the gains (+1%) followed by utilities (+0.4%), consumer staples (+0.4%) and basic materials (+0.3%).

At the other end though, real estate and technology stocks were the biggest drag, shedding 2% and 1.5% respectively.

Other modest losses were recorded by industrials (-1.2%), consumer discretionary (-0.9%), healthcare (-0.8%) and financials (-0.4%).

As for the top performing individual stocks:

• Healius +10.7%
• Ramsay Health Care +6.2%
• Gold Road Resources +3.9%
• Tabcorp +3.3%
• AUB Group +2.7%

The stocks that were the worst performers of the day included:

• Pro Medicus -7.8%
• Zip -7.1%
• NEXTDC -6.5%
• Telix Pharmaceuticals -5.8%
• Boss Energy -5.2%

The Queensland government has confirmed it will defer the suspension of The Star Gold Coast's casino licence until September 30.

The casino was due to have its licence suspended for 90 days from next Monday, March 31.

The Queensland government says it made the decision based on the advice of the Special Manager, Nicholas Weeks.

"The Government has made it clear that our expectations have not changed and The Star must progress its remediation," Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said in a statement.  

"Based on the advice of the Special Manager we are satisfied The Star has been continuing to make positive progress under the agreement.

"The extension will provide The Star with additional time to deliver on its outstanding commitments while keeping its doors open.

"This deferral does not prevent us from taking immediate action should The Star fail to meet its remediation obligations."

Mr Weeks will also remain in his role as Special Manager until the end of September.

The ASX 200 has snapped its five-day winning streak, ending the day down 0.4% to 7,969 points at the close of trade.

Uncertainty about the latest round of tariffs by US President Donald Trump flowed through to local shares, with technology and real estate stocks seeing the greatest slump out of the 11 sectors.

Healius is by far the biggest gainer on the ASX 200 today, up 11.6% so far — and the reason for it has got to do with the pathology company's investor day presentation.

Not only did its February YTD (year to date) revenue increase by 6.2%, its pathology volumes increased by 4% during the same time period.

Healius also told the ASX that it intended to pay a special dividend of 41.3 cents to investors after it sold its Lumus diagnostic imaging unit for $965 million, with the deal set to be finalised on May 1.

Altogether, it's seen Healius record its busiest day on the share market since March 4, and its share price is now 7% higher so far this year. (When the market closed yesterday, it had losses of over 4%.)

In other words, today's performance has erased the company's losses for the year — and its shares are on track to record their biggest percentage jump since August 21 last year.

Asian shares have followed Wall Street's lead, trading lower off the back of Donald Trump's announcement that tariffs on auto imports will come into effect next week.

Japan's Nikkei is down by 1.2%, led by heavy losses from automakers, including:

• Toyota -3.7%
• Mazda -6.4%
• Subaru -6.5%

South Korean shares were down by 1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was also slightly lower.

Local shares are trading lower as we head into the afternoon, with the ASX 200 down 0.5% to 7,958 points as of 12:30pm AEDT.

While the index has recovered slightly from a steeper slide earlier, seven out of the 11 sectors are firmly in negative territory — and in a big way.

As for the best-performing individual stocks so far:

• Healius +11.1%
• Liontown Resources +4.6%
• Gold Road Resources +4.3%
• Mineral Resources +3.8%
• Deep Yellow +4%

And the worst-performing individual stocks:

• Zip -6.5%
• Pro Medicus -6.2%
• Clarity Pharmaceuticals -5.7%
• NEXTDC -4.4%
• Life360 -4.4%

To be frank with you Charles, I don't dare try and predict anything that Donald Trump might be thinking when it comes to future tariffs.

Given he's only been US president for a little over two months, today's auto tariffs announcement indicate he's just getting started.

As for whether it will be a "defining policy of is presidency", that will depend on who you ask.

The United Auto Workers, who are long-standing critics of free trade agreements, have welcomed the tariffs, saying it will bring back "good union jobs to the US".

However, auto industry experts aren't so convinced and say the auto tariffs will drive up prices and stifle production.

So really, it will be defining in one way or another. But as for whether it's a "good" or "bad" defining policy, well ... we'll have to wait and see.

Shares of The Reject Shop are absolutely flying off the shelves off the back of Canadian value retailer Dollarama snapping up the local discount giant for a cool $259 million.

So far, The Reject Shop's shares are 110% higher (yes, really), to $6.61 — in dollar terms, the share price has picked up around $3.50 in under two hours.

The deal itself has the backing of The Reject Shop's largest  shareholder, Kin Group, which holds roughly 20.8% of the company's shares.

Kin Group has also told The Reject Shop's board that it intends to vote in favour of the deal, provided a "superior proposal" for the retailer doesn't present itself.

Provided the deal gets the green light after an independent expert report and a shareholder meeting, The Reject Shop expects the deal to be finalised in the second half of the year.

Well hello! Long time no see blog friends — I'm here to join the party for the rest of this fine trading day.

Big thanks to Stephanie for getting the show on the road this morning on what's been a very busy Thursday so far.

As always, if you've got any burning questions, send 'em on through using the button at the top of the blog and I'll do my best to answer them. (Otherwise I'll hassle one of my colleagues to answer it instead — and I'm very good at hassling!).

Right you are Phillip — stocks are on the slide but not that far.

Let's get you across some more detail of the session so far.

Here's how the ASX 200 sectors are faring in the first hour of trade:

The biggest % falls have been for:

• Zip Co (-5.5%)
• Pro Medicus (-5.3%)
• Clarity Pharmaceuticals (-4.9%)
• Capstone Copper (-4.4%)
• Block (-4.4%)

And on the flipside, the best gains:

• Healius (+12.6%)
• Gold Road Resources (+4.8%)
• Deep Yellow (+3.8%)
• Westgold Resources (+3.2%)
• Neuren Pharmaceuticals (+3.2%)

• ASX 200:  -0.5% to 7,950 points (live values below)
• Australian dollar: -0.2% to 62.84 US cents
• S&P 500: -1.1% to 5,712 points
• Nasdaq: -2% to 17,899 points
• FTSE 100: +0.3% to 8,689 points
• EuroStoxx: -0.7% to 548 points
• Spot gold: +0.1% to $US3,020/ounce
• Brent crude: flat at $US73.79/barrel
• Iron ore:  +0.5% to $US102.90/tonne
• Bitcoin: -0.5% to $US86,859

Prices current around 10:30am AEDT

Live updates from major ASX indices:

Property listings firm Domain has received a sweetened takeover offer from US company CoStar, which values it at $2.8 billion.

In an announcement to the ASX, Domain said it was the "best and final" bid from CoStar, unless any competing bids emerged.

The $4.43 per share offer improves on the $4.20 per share offer from February.

It also includes up to $0.04 per share of additional value for eligible shareholders through franking credits.

Nine Entertainment, which is the controlling shareholder in Domain, said it was supportive of Domain's decision to grant access to CoStar to undertake due diligence.

In a separate statement, Nine said the revised offer would result in $1.4 billion in case proceeds for Nine if it went ahead.

Following falls on global markets overnight and the confirmation in the last few hours that Donald Trump will impose tariffs on auto imports into the US, the negative sentiment is flowing through to local trade.

The ASX 200 is currently down 0.7 per cent.

The average basket of groceries at Woolworths is costing shoppers more than it did a year ago, while the same items at Coles and Aldi have become cheaper.

Those are the findings of the latest government-funded quarterly report by consumer advocacy group Choice, which has been tracking the average price of groceries at Australian supermarkets since March last year.

Choice found that the price of 14 common grocery items at Coles and Aldi supermarkets had declined since releasing its first quarterly report, both with specials and without.

Between March and December last year, the price of Aldi's basket was relatively unchanged, falling by 0.3 per cent, while the same basket of grocery items on special at Coles decreased by 2.5 per cent during that time.

However, a basket of the same items with specials at Woolworths increased by 3.7 per cent — with the price rising from $64.93 to $67.34.

Even without specials, Choice found changes in the prices of the baskets at each supermarket, with Coles and Aldi seeing lower prices, while Woolworths saw a slight increase.

Read more from business reporter Kate Ainsworth:

US President Donald Trump has announced he's placing a 25 per cent tariff on all automotive imports to the United States.

The White House expects the tariffs will raise $US100 billion in revenue annually and foster more domestic manufacturing.

Mr Trump has long said tariffs on auto imports would be a defining policy of his presidency.

You can read more here:

Nicole hadn't been in her sales job for even a year when she resigned, but her former employer is now trying to stop her working in the same industry for the next six months.

The 26-year-old (who asked we change her name to protect her identity) earned slightly over $65,000 in her role as a sales manager, and when she was approached by a competing company with a higher offer, she jumped at the opportunity.

"Since my current employers have found out where I'm going, they have issued a non-compete — a letter to remind me that I'm not allowed to work in the industry or for any competing brands, or previous clients, or potential clients, for the next six months," she told ABC News.

 "Given I'm a junior employee … I think six months would just be a huge hit to my career."

Nicole knew her company had non-compete clauses in its contracts but wasn't aware of any former colleagues facing similar threats of enforcement, and had checked that her new role would not involve any directly competing brands when she went through the interview process.

"I do know people that have left the company and have gone to direct competitors, and they may have been asked to finish up immediately, and that would be the business protecting themselves," she said.

"But sending me this letter, that was so obviously drafted by lawyers, just made me feel very threatened."

After spending the past few days trying to get in touch with Fair Work and receiving assurances from her prospective new employer, for Nicole, the timing of Tuesday's federal budget was uncanny.

The Albanese government has proposed a ban on non-compete clauses for workers earning below a high income threshold, which is currently $175,000.

The hit from a non-compete clause may catch many affected workers off guard, but it's something legal aid lawyers see very often.

While they are often associated with senior managers or executive level roles, solicitor Giles Fryer, who works for Legal Aid NSW, has seen non-competes used across the spectrum.

"What we've noticed is that they've also crept into the contracts of low-income workers and vulnerable workers, even casual employees," he said.

"We speak to clients from all different types of industries and different job types, and really there's no area where we haven't seen them."

You can read more from myself and Rachel Clayton here: