ASX ends higher as tech stocks pace broad rally
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended higher as tech stocks, led by NextDC (+3.7%), Life360 (+2.9%) and Xero (+2.3%), paced broad gains across the market.
The benchmark ASX 200 index rose 0.31% to 8,640.6 with 10 of the 11 sectoral indices in the green.
Biggest movers:
- Sims (+9.9%) — Guided for strong underlying earnings growth in FY26 after calling the impact of ongoing conflict in the Middle East “relatively limited” outside shipping and fuel costs.
- IperionX (-4.7%) — Ended as the worst performer on the ASX 200 for the second time in three sessions, after announcing a “typographical error” in its half-year accounts on Friday evening.
Executive changes:
- BHP (+0.7%) — Promoted BHP Americas president Brandon Craig to CEO, with Mike Henry set to leave the company on 1 July.
- Woodside Energy (+0.1%) — Confirmed the permanent appointment of CEO Liz Westcott, who replaced Meg O’Neill on an interim basis following her departure to BP in December.
Other news:
- Santos (+0.8%) — The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility has appealed the decision of Justice Brigitte Markovic which found Santos’ claims about decarbonisation were not misleading in a landmark ‘greenwashing’ lawsuit first brought by the advocacy group in 2021.
- Humm Group (+6.1%) — Found by the Takeovers Panel to have made misleading statements when disclosing a $385 million takeover proposal by Credit Corp in December.
What’s ahead:
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its monthly producer price index figures at 11:30pm AEDT Wednesday.
- The Bank of Canada will announce its latest interest rate statement at 12:45am AEDT Thursday.
- The US Federal Reserve will make an interest rate decision at 5am AEDT Thursday. Fed chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 5:30am AEDT.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release monthly employment and unemployment figures at 11:30am AEDT Thursday.
