ASX closes at record high
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket continued to gain after a rally on Wall Street off the back of optimism for an interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve in September.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.28% to end at a record high of 8,114.7, with nine out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
The best performing sector was AREITs, up 1.69%, followed by IT (1.62%). Strike Energy, up 5%, was one of the best performers across the ASX 200 after securing a contract with Clarke Energy to procure 20 gas reciprocating engines for its proposed South Erregulla gas power plant.
Pacific Smiles continued its rally, up 7.4%, after its board backed an improved takeover offer from NDC BidCo.
Capricorn Metals gained 1.67% after announcing a 15% increase to its ore reserve estimate while Fortescue Metals rose 0.48% as it appointed Indigenous Australian leader Noel Pearson to its board.
Meanwhile, Namoi Cotton surged 5.88% after the competition regulator gave a conditional nod to the proposed takeover bid by Louis Dreyfus Company after it agreed to divest some of its other holdings in Australia.
The worst performing sector was financials, down 0.37%, followed by industrials (-0.23%). Monadelphous tumbled 4.63% after global lithium miner Albemarle terminated its contract at the Kemerton project in Western Australia. It was the worst performing company across the ASX 200.
DroneShield plunged 14.75% after the counter-drone technology company agreed to issue 104.3 million shares at a discounted price of $1.15 per share to raise $120 million.
Commonwealth Bank ended 0.71% lower after it flagged losses on the sale of its stake in Indonesian bank PTBC as well as costs related to changes in the operating model of subsidiary Bankwest.
Star Entertainment fell 0.86% amid uncertainty over an inquiry report into its suitability to hold a casino licence in New South Wales.
Sonic Healthcare slipped 0.9% after announcing that it was raising debt funding in the US private placement market to refinance existing debt.
Lendlease fell 0.48% after it announced it had established a joint venture with Warburg Pincus as part of its sale of its life sciences interests in Asia.
SiteMinder ended 0.09% lower after a ratings downgrade from Jarden analysts as it approached a “period of consolidation”.
The Australian dollar is lower buying 65.32 US cents.
The context: Tonight will see the Bank of England makes its latest monetary policy decision.
Friday will see a slew of US earnings including Amazon, Apple, Coinbase and Snap. While Pinnacle, Block and ResMed will also report earnings in the local market.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will also publish the latest lending indicators, producer price indexes and monthly household spending indicator figures on Friday.
