ASX ends higher as tech sector rallies, iron ore miners drop
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended higher as the tech sector rallied, tracking gains from Wall Street.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.33% to end at 8,429.8 with seven out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
Biggest movers:
- Uranium miners — Boss Energy (14.18%), Paladin Energy (10.06%) and Deep Yellow (7.87%) were the top three performers across the ASX 200 as US President Donald Trump pledged to impose a 25% tariff on Canada ,which is racing to become the world’s biggest uranium supplier and is the US’ largest foreign supplier of the commodity. Paladin also reiterated its full-year production guidance after its Langer Heinrich Mine recorded its highest monthly output since production restarted last year.
- Tech sector (2.35%) — Was the best performing sector following a rally in tech stocks on Wall Street overnight. US tech stocks are expected to benefit from the deregulatory agenda of the new Trump administration. Life360 (3.4%), Wisetech Global (2.93%) and Xero (2.44%) led gains.
- Iluka Resources (-6.96%) — Was the worst performing stock across the ASX 200 after reporting a 22% decline in production for the 2024 calendar year.
Earnings:
- Evolution Mining (4.06%) — Posted improved output during the December quarter and maintained its full-year guidance but flagged lower output for the March quarter due to a planned shutdown.
- Beach Energy (0.34%) — Reported a rise in sales and revenue for the second quarter even as production lowered.
- Woodside Energy (-1.87%) — Posted a fall in December quarter production and as US President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency which could lead to an oversupply of oil.
Other news:
- Generation Development Group (5.17%) — Experienced a 31% rise in funds under management for the 12 months to December 2024.
- Hub24 (3.82%) — Extended gains from Tuesday reported net inflows of $5.5 billion for the December quarter, comfortably beating forecasts by Citi and UBS.
- Iron ore miners — BHP (-2%), Fortescue (-1.76%), Rio Tinto (-0.83%), along with BlueScope Steel (-0.78%) all fell after Trump said he was planning a 10% tariff on China by as soon as 1 February. Elsewhere, analysts maintained their bullish outlook on BHP after the mining giant reported higher production for the second quarter and reaffirmed full-year production guidance at most of its assets.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.62 US cents.
What’s ahead: Thursday will see Myer and Premier Investments hold their respective EGMs to approve Myer’s acquisition of Premier’s apparel brands business.
