Laura Bessarati

The materials sector is down 2.5%.

So that's really what's weighing on our market.

When you have your second biggest sector falling, that's really dragging things lower, even though most of the other sectors are improving.

Consumer staples also a very big drag down by 5%.

That's

really being dragged down by some of the supermarket giants, which we'll get to in just a moment.

But energy is one of the standouts today, unsurprisingly, with what's going on with oil prices.

Let's look at some company news from today.

So we have to talk about supermarket giant Woolies.

It's been in the spotlight, but not in a good way.

So its share price is slumping by roughly 8% after its third quarter trading update, flagging that the conflict in the Middle East is creating greater uncertainty for its customers, suppliers and also its teams at a time when, of course, cost of living pressures are already acute.

It said the impacts have been limited to date, but higher fuel costs and secondary effects are likely to have an increasing inflationary impact as we move through the calendar year.

So it downgraded earnings expectations for the year, saying they no longer expect growth at the top end of its guidance range.

Apart from that, its food sales did lift by nearly 6% over the quarter and sales have been strong today.

in the 13 weeks through to early April.

But still, you know, them flagging the impacts of the Middle East has sent its share price plunging today.

Coles, its rival, is also down around 3.6% today, probably because, you know, they're set to report results tomorrow.

And I guess investors are just bracing for potentially a similar outcome.

Shares of mining giant South32 have also had a rough day, plunging 5.5%.

This is after the company warned of a blowout at its flagship zinc, lead and silver project in the United States.