Market Snapshot and Telstra Outage Updates

Market snapshot

A By Adelaide Miller

ASX 200: -0.8% to 8,716 points

Australian dollar: +0.1% to 69.37 US cents

Wall Street: Dow Jones (-1.1%), S & P 500 (-0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%)

Europe: FTSE (-1.7%), Stoxx 600 (-1.6%), DAX (-2.2%)

Spot gold: +0.1% to $US4,080/ounce

Oil (Brent crude): flat at $US78.02/barrel

Iron ore: +1.4% to $US99.25/tonne

Bitcoin: +0.1% to $US62,154

Prices current around 10:05am AEST:

Telstra issues still occurring with emergency calls

A By Adelaide Miller

Telstra is still having issues with some emergency calls, according to an update from its media team.

The statement says:

"Overnight, our team have made good progress reducing the occurrence of the subsequent Triple Zero calling error by approx. 90%, and will continuing work to eliminate this issue entirely.

"If you experience any issues calling Triple Zero, please immediately retry your call. We have seen good success of calls connecting on retry.

"Our welfare checks process remains in place where a call does not connect successfully."

ASX breakdown

A By Adelaide Miller

The Aussie share market has begun Thursday trading in the red, down -0.9% to 8,710 points. All major sectors are down besides Energy and Utilities.

Of the stocks, 143 are in the red, 5 are unchanged, and 52 are gaining.

Here are the top movers, with Fletcher Building up +5.6%.

Here are the bottom movers, with Minerals 260 down -6.3%.

The Aussie dollar is trading at about 69 US cents.

ASX opens in the red

A By Adelaide Miller

The Aussie share market has opened down -0.8% to 8,717 points.

More to come.

Some emergency calls in Qld have failed

A By Adelaide Miller

Queensland Police have confirmed multiple emergency calls across the state failed to connect to Triple Zero during the nationwide Telstra outage.

Police identified 21 people who attempted to call for help but were unable to get through from Wednesday morning.

Of the failed calls, seven were accidental calls and one person no longer required assistance.

Five callers needed the Queensland Ambulance Service, but someone else had already contacted emergency services on their behalf.

Emergency services were initially unable to locate one caller, but later tracked their phone and confirmed they were holidaying in Victoria.

"We actually had seven matters where we couldn't get in touch with the persons so we sent police cars to all of those people," says Superintendent Brook Dwyer.

Here is the full piece:

Telstra outage: 'Secondary issue' still impacting some Triple Zero calls amid work to solve 'software defect'

A By Adelaide Miller

Telstra says a "secondary issue" is still impacting people trying to make Triple Zero calls on its network, but the frequency of the error has been reduced by approximately 90%.

The telco confirmed a software defect may have contributed to the nationwide outage, which left potentially millions of Australians unable to make calls or access the internet.

The company says it is continuing to restore services completely and is conducting welfare checks on people unable to contact Triple Zero.

You can read the full story by Luke Cooper below:

Waiting on update on 'secondary issue' at Telstra, regional rail network at standstill

A By Adelaide Miller

While we wait for a restoration update on the "secondary issue" at Telstra, it's important to note that Victoria's regional rail network still remains at a standstill.

V/Line says "very limited" replacement bus services have been operating through morning peak hour.

You can read the full story below:

A look at the mixed results across Wall St

A By Adelaide Miller

Wall St markets have closed for the day, with the S & P 500 finishing down -0.3% to 7,483 points.

Of the top movers, Akamai Technologies Inc finished up +10.7%, followed by Arista Networks Inc, up +8.8%.

Of the bottom movers, Synchrony Financial finished down -9.6%, followed by Moderna Inc, down -7.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down -1.1% to 52,348 points.

Of the top movers, NVIDIA Corp finished up +3.7%, followed by Cisco Systems, up +1.8%.

Of the bottom movers, American Express finished down -3.8%, followed by Sherwin-Williams, down -3.4%.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished in the green, up +0.3% to 29,253 points.

Of the top movers, Nebius Group NV finished up +10.9%, followed by CoreWeave Inc, up +7.8%.

Of the bottom movers, Axon Enterprise Inc finished down -6.4%, followed by Honeywell Aerospace, down -5.8%.

Industry minister says Liberal senator's test calls to Triple Zero were 'utterly irresponsible'

J By Joshua Boscaini

The industry minister says he was "shocked" to hear that a Liberal frontbencher test called Triple Zero yesterday to check if it was working.

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson said she called Triple Zero on Wednesday twice out of concern about a potential outage.

Tim Ayres has urged Australians not to test call Triple Zero and says Henderson's actions were "utterly irresponsible".

"There is a framework here that is about managing these issues. Individual Australians taking it upon themselves like apparently Senator Henderson did to make Triple Zero calls, like that is not in anybody's interest, it's utterly irresponsible," Ayres says.

Minister says it's 'irresponsible' to suggest cyber attack caused Telstra outage

J By Joshua Boscaini

The communications minister says there is no evidence that yesterday's nationwide Telstra outage was a result of a cybersecurity breach.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce yesterday questioned whether China's ballistic missile test on Monday was linked to the Telstra outage.

Speaking to ABC's AM, Anika Wells says a software update time synchronisation issue caused the Telstra outage.

"It is irresponsible for parliamentarians to speculate about that without any evidence. We should all be focused on restoring Australians' faith in Triple Zero and working as lawmakers to improve the system for everybody," Anika Wells says.

Asked if she's confident that Australia's networks could withstand a cyber attack, Wells sidestepped the question but says telcos speak with cybersecurity agencies regularly.

Telecommunications ombudsman 'exceptionally disappointed' about outage

J By Joshua Boscaini

The telecommunications ombudsman says she's "exceptionally disappointed" that Australia is dealing with another network outage.

Cynthia Gebert says her office has received 30 complaints from Telstra customers yesterday and expects to have received more overnight.

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Gebert has urged Telstra customers to raise their concerns with the company directly, and says people should approach her office if they're not satisfied.

"What we're hearing from consumers is a range of challenges and I think it really highlights how important reliable mobile service is,"

Gebert says.

"We are hearing from businesses who have lost income, unable to take on jobs, contact people they're meant to be doing work for that day."

Price of oil could impact US interest rates

A By Adelaide Miller

The price of oil is trading at close to $US80/barrel, which could impact whether the US sees an interest rate hike anytime soon.

Brent Crude is up +7.2% to $US79.48/barrel.

The surge comes as US President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran was over, and launched another wave of strikes on the country.

Here is a look at the commodity's recent movements:

Head of Research at Pepperstone Chris Weston says the surge in oil has prompted "a slight repricing of interest rate expectations" in the US.

"USD OIS now currently price/implies a 33% probability of a July rate hike, and that pricing will start to be weighted towards next week's US CPI report, which is expected to show a moderation in inflation,"

he says.

"Looking further ahead, markets now imply an 86% probability of a September rate hike, with almost two full hikes priced through to April."

Investigation into KPMG extends to other firms

A By Adelaide Miller

The corporate watchdog ASIC has expanded its investigation into audit conduct complaints, now looking at conduct across the Big 4 audit firms.

This includes:

KPMG

Deloitte

EY

PwC.

It is in light of allegations concerning auditor conduct at KPMG.

The surveillance by ASIC will examine:

Internal complaints, including whistleblower complaints, received by the firms in connection to the external audit services they provide.

This will include whether the firms have received complaints relating to misconduct by auditors, such as the misuse or sharing of confidential information.

ASIC will also continue its significant investigation into specific allegations of misuse of client confidential information at KPMG.

"The allegations concerning KPMG are serious. ASIC will use the existing suite of limited powers available to us, while continuing to engage constructively with the government's reform process," says ASIC Chair Sarah Court.

It comes as Treasury consults on options to strengthen regulation of large accounting, auditing and consulting firms.

Ms Court says the current law leaves significant gaps in ASIC’s ability to respond to misconduct.

"We can generally only investigate certain individuals within a partnership, registered company auditors, and only in relation to their conduct of an audit,"

she says.

"We have recently called for reforms to extend provisions of the Corporations Act to audit firms and to increase the sanctions available for breaches."

ASIC also considers current whistleblower protections to be deficient and is calling on the scope to be widened.

"Whistleblower protections should be extended to people seeking to make disclosures about partnerships such as KPMG," says Ms Court.

"Strong protections are essential if misconduct is to be identified, escalated and addressed."

If you know more, please contact ABC business reporter Nassim Khadem: [email protected]

Software updates can increase risk of telco problems, according to expert

A By Adelaide Miller

What a massive day yesterday was, as Telstra experienced widespread network outages, impacting mobile and data connectivity, payment systems, and external telecommunication issues on regional rail networks in Victoria and New South Wales.

According to the telco's CFO Michael Ackland, the outage was caused by a software defect.

On The Business last night, Alicia Barry interviewed independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde, who says as software and tech updates (like cloud-based networks) increase and become more complex, so too does the risk of something going wrong.

You can catch up on the interview below:

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Telstra experiencing ongoing 'secondary problem'

A By Adelaide Miller

According to Telstra's website, the telecommunication is still experiencing a "secondary issue".

Telstra posted this statement to its website last night:

"While we've restored the issue that caused today's outage, we've identified a secondary issue impacting some calls, including Triple Zero.

"In these cases, when you call Triple Zero you will receive an error message and your phone will try to connect to an alternative mobile network.

"As part of our back-up process, we will complete a welfare check where we detect a failed Triple Zero call.

"We're working urgently to resolve this issue."

The Business Team is gathering information about this secondary problem. As we learn more, we will keep you updated.

ICYMI: Wednesday Finance with Alan Kohler

A By Adelaide Miller

Telstra's share price fell yesterday after the network outage, and the oil price jumped after the US launched retaliatory strikes against Iran.

Alan Kohler has the details.

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Has your business been affected by the Telstra outage?

A By Adelaide Miller

Are you a business owner who has been impacted by Telstra's network outage? We are keen to hear from you.

Business reporter Nassim Khadem is gathering for this angle and wanting to hear from business owners directly.

If you want to share your experience with her, send her an email at: [email protected]

Market snapshot

A By Adelaide Miller

ASX 200 Futures: -0.6% to 8,706 points

Australian dollar: -0.03% to 69.26 US cents

Wall Street: Dow Jones (-1.1%), S & P 500 (-0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%)

Europe: FTSE (-1.7%), Stoxx 600 (-1.6%), DAX (-2.2%)

Spot gold: -0.7% to $US4,076/ounce

Oil (Brent crude): +7.3% to $US79.40/barrel

Iron ore: +1.4% to $US99.25/tonne

Bitcoin: +0.02% to $US62,084

Prices current around 7:30am AEST: