ASX hits another record high, Novonix and SG Fleet soar

The news: The Australian sharemarket hit another record high as it tracked gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.28% to end at 8,417.6, with seven out of 11 sectors finishing in green. It also hit an intraday high of 8,462.1.

Deals:

• Novonix (30.4%) — Signed a binding offtake agreement with PowerCo SE, the battery cell subsidiary of automaker Volkswagen Group.
• SG Fleet Group (18.35%) — Confirmed it had received a takeover offer from private markets investor Pacific Equity Partners in a deal worth $1.2 billion.
• Bigtincan (5.71%) — Vector Capital has improved its takeover bid for the sales software provider to 22 cents per share.

Other news:

• GQG Partners (4.53%) — Morgans downgraded the company to ‘hold’ as it believed its investment in Adani Group might cap the fund manager’s share price performance in the short term.
• Lovisa (2.43%) — Morgans analysts said the recent selloff in the jewellery retailer provides a buying opportunity for investors.
• A2 Milk (1.1%) — Analysts were positive on the company’s lift in its full-year revenue guidance and its new dividend policy.
• WiseTech (0.8%) — Analysts raised their price targets on the tech company after its shares tumbled last week.
• Southern Cross Austereo (-2.75%) — Received a first strike on its remuneration report at its AGM and faced harsh questioning from shareholders on costs.
• Cuscal (-7.6%) — Floated on the ASX today under the ticker ‘CCL’ and disclosed that Wilsons Advisory chair John Prendiville holds more than 1% of the company.