ASX closes at record high as real estate, materials sectors led broad gains

The news: The Australian has closed at a new record high as the real estate and materials sectors led broad gains across the bourse.

The ASX 200 rose 0.66% to end at 8597.7, a new record close, with 10 of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.

Meanwhile, the market is increasingly expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates after Australian Bureau of Statistics data on retail sales and building approval growth for May came in below economists’ forecasts.

Biggest movers:

• Fund managers – UBS analysts upgraded Perpetual (+8.8%) from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’ because the stock “appears oversold” and reiterated their ‘buy’ rating on Magellan Financial Group (+6%). The stocks were the two best performers on the ASX 200. Centuria Capital (+4.4%) was also a big gainer.
• Materials sector (+1.8%) – Iron ore majors BHP (+1.7%), Fortescue (+3.8%) and Rio Tinto (+2.1%) all finished higher as iron ore index futures on the Singapore exchange lifted by around 1.3%. Building products manufacturer James Hardie (+5.3%) also completed its acquisition of outdoor living business AZEK, which has now delisted from the New York stock exchange.
• Real estate sector (+1.8%) – The 14 largest companies in the sector by market cap all gained. This included gains for Goodman Group (+2.1%), Scentre Group (+2.7%), Stockland (+2%) and Vicinity Centres (+0.8%). UBS analysts said in a research note issued on Tuesday that the sector was trading -5.8% below their estimated fair value.
• Helia Group (-21.4%) – The mortgage insurance provider was the worst performer on the ASX 200 after it warned that a major contract with ING Bank is at risk. In March the company said its contract with Commonwealth Bank was at risk.
• Domino’s (-15.8%) – Group chief executive and managing director Mark van Dyck has resigned after only eight months in the role. He will leave on 23 December.
• Mesoblast (-8.9%) – The biotech almost erased gains made on Tuesday following a positive regulatory update.
• Tech sector (-0.7%) – The only sector that took losses. This was driven by Xero (-2.1%), Technology One (+0.2%), NextDC (-1.1%) and LIfe360 (-2.6%). However, Wisetech Global (+1.5%) finished higher.