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Market Wrap

ASX closes higher amid tariff war optimism

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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished at a new three-month high, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street markets as the US government pushed for trade talks between President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping later this week.

The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.63% to close at 8466.7, with nine of 11 sectors finishing in the green.

Biggest movers:

  • Gold miners – Were again buoyed by growing haven-asset demand amid trade tensions and as Ukraine and Russia failed to agree to a ceasefire following peace talks. The biggest gainers were Westgold Resources (+5%), Genesis Minerals (+4.6%), and Newmont Corporation (+4.3%).
  • Financial sector (+1.1%) – Australia’s five biggest banks helped drive today’s best performing sector. Westpac added 1.4%, followed by ANZ (+1.3%), Macquarie (+0.9%), Commonwealth Bank (+1.3%) and NAB (+1.2%).
  • IDP Education (-48.1%) – The global education and student support services provider reported weak FY25 guidance because of increasing international student restrictions in multiple markets.
  • Tabcorp (+5.8) – Biggest gainer on the ASX 200 today although there was no company specific news.

Deals updates:

  • James Hardie (+2.1%) – Plans to issue $1.7 billion in debt to fund its takeover of NYSE-listed outdoor furniture business The AZEK Company.
  • ALS (+0.2%) – Kicked off its $40 million share purchase plan to support an expansion in its laboratory network and potential M&A.
  • PointsBet – Entered a trading halt ahead of news on Japan-based MIXI’s proposed $353 million acquisition.
  • Dropsuite – IT management platform NinjaOne has completed its USD270 million ($424 million) acquisition of SaaS backup and data protection provider Dropsuite, which has since been delisted from the ASX.
  • Brickworks (-0.5%) and Soul Patts (-0.7%) – Closed lower after they rallied strongly yesterday on news that they would merge in a $14 billion deal.
  • Life360 (-3%) – The family safety and location sharing app developer plans to issue $250 million in debt ahead of potential M&A activity.

Executive moves:

  • Wesfarmers (+0.8%) – Kmart and Target chief executive John Gualtieri will be the next managing director of Officeworks after Sarah Hunter steps down in August.
  • Pilbara Minerals (-0.4%) – Chief financial officer Luke Bortoli has resigned but will stay in the role while the lithium miner finds a replacement.
  • Perpetual (-1.1%) – Vivek Prabhu will be promoted to head of credit and fixed income on 1 July, following the retirement of Michael Korber. Prabhu will retain his existing portfolio manager roles.
  • Domino’s (-2.2%) – The chief executive of the Japanese business Martin Steenks has been moved into the chief operating officer role, with Asia group CEO Josh Kilimnik replacing him in the interim.

Other news:

  • Tasmea (+8.6%) – The small-cap engineering firm declared a special dividend of 12c per share.
  • Judo Capital (+5.8%) – On track to meet its revised guidance for financial year 2025 and is entering the final phase of its growth strategy
  • Morningstar picks – Auckland Airport (+1%), James Hardie (+2.1%), and Spark NZ (+0.5%), have been added to the investment research firm’s list of stocks trading at discounts to its assessed fair values. Meanwhile, Brambles (+0.2%) and TPG Telecom (+1.2%) were removed.
  • Treasury Wines (+0.5%) – The winemaker downgraded its full-year earnings guidance due to lower-than-expected premium shipments in the US.
  • Meridian Energy (+0.4%) – Announced it is ending its demand response agreement with New Zealand Aluminium Smelters early and is partnering with UK-based Kraken to replace the billing platform currently provided by Meridian subsidiary Flux.

What’s ahead:

  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release quarterly estimates for national accounts data including GDP, terms of trade, consumption, income and savings, tomorrow at 11:30am.
  • Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda will address the Research Institute of Japan tonight at 5:50pm.
  • The US Bureau of Statistics will release monthly figures from its job openings and labor turnover survey at midnight. The US Census Bureau will release monthly figures on factory orders at the same time.

By Brandon How