ASX slips by heavy selling in mining and healthcare stocks

The Australian sharemarket was weighed down by heavy selling in mining and healthcare stocks, offsetting strong gains across the rest of the index led by interest rate sensitive sectors.
The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 21.50 points, or 0.2 per cent to 8874.70 at 10.10am AEST with three sectors in the red and the remaining eight higher led by retailers and real estate.
It comes after the index recorded its largest fall in nearly three weeks on Tuesday.
Materials were the weakest sector as James Hardie crashed 25.5 per cent at the open after its guidance disappointed analysts and as it said the Australian market remained "challenged" following a 10 per cent decline in profit.
The sector was also dragged down by 1.8 per cent decline in BHP, while Fortescue Metals also slid by 1 per cent.
CSL plunged 4.3 per cent as analysts downgraded share price targets for global healthcare giant after it announced it was spinning off its vaccines unit and cutting jobs as part of a major restructure. It comes after the third-largest company recorded its largest one-day fall ever on Tuesday as shares fell 17 per cent in a $22 billion wipeout.
Consumer discretionary was buoyed by a 6.9 per cent jump in The Lottery Corporation amid a 12 per cent drop in net profit as challenging economic conditions deterred customers from spending large sums of money on lottery tickets.
Real estate was supported by a 6.5 per cent surge in Stockland Group as full-year revenue rose 4.8 per cent to $3.1 billion while net profit more than doubled to $826 million.

Sumber : AFR