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Market Wrap

ASX hits new record close; Credit Corp rallies

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The news: The Australian sharemarket has surged to a new record close as every industry sector finished higher.

The benchmark ASX 200 rose 1.23% to end at 8770.4, beating the record set on 18 July.

The best performing sector was consumer discretionary (+1.8%), with Wesfarmers (+2.8%), Aristocrat Leisure (+0.5%) and JB Hi-Fi (+1.8%) finishing higher.

Australia's four biggest lenders Commonwealth Bank (+1.4%), NAB (+1.6%), Westpac (+1.4%) and ANZ (+1.5%) also finished higher. The financial sector (+1.5%) was the second best performing sector.

Biggest movers:

  • Credit Corp Group (+16.2%) – The debt collector reported an 86% jump in full-year net profit after tax to $94.1 million, up from last year's total of $50.7 million.
  • Rare earth producers – Iluka Resources (+8.7%) and Lynas Rare Earths (+5.2%) finished higher after the Australian reported that the federal government is considering using its promised critical minerals strategic reserve to set a price floor for rare earth materials.
  • Austal (+7.9%) – Secured a strategic agreement to build 26 vessels for the Commonwealth government from the Henderson Shipyard in Western Australia.
  • Telix Pharmaceuticals (-8.5%) – Flagged that first-half operational expenditure is expected to be 36% of revenue based on unaudited figures.

Deals news:

  • Betr (ended flat) – Told the exchange that proxy voting intentions indicated support for a selective buyback of shares should its takeover bid be accepted by PointsBet shareholders. This is part of a proposed all-scrip takeover bid for rival online bookmaker PointsBet, which has been rebuffed by the target’s board.
  • TPG Telecom (-0.4%) – Announced it would use $3 billion of the cash proceeds from its asset sale to Vocus to return capital to shareholders as part of a broader capital management plan.
  • Platinum Capital LIC (-0.7%) – Listed investment trust Platinum Capital has withdrawn its proposal to merge with Platinum International Fund Complex ETF due to opposition of the restructure from its merger candidate L1 Capital.

Other news:

  • Commonwealth Bank (+1.4%) – Flagged $130 million in second-half provisions that will be excluded from full-year earnings released on 13 August.
  • Northern Star Resources (+1%) – Citi analysts lifted their outlook on the gold miner after a visit to its Karlgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines project in Western Australia.
  • Boss Energy (+0.3%) – Denied any wrongdoing relating to the recent disclosure of production and cost figures at its flagship Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia after receiving a query from the ASX.

What’s ahead:

  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release selected living cost indexes for June tomorrow at 11:30am AEST.

By Brandon How