ASX rallies on economic easing
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The news: The Australian sharemarket rose sharply after labour force figures suggested ongoing economic easing along with latest US inflation figures bolstering hopes for interest rate cuts.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 ended up 1.65% to 7,881.3, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
Interest rate sensitive sectors were the best performing with AREITs, up 3.41%, followed by IT (3.32%) and consumer discretionary (2.45%). Across the wider ASX property company Cromwell finished up 4.49% after announcing it would sell its Polish retail fund for $465 million.
Large tech company Xero gained 4.69% after Jarden analysts upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ and hiked its target price. Tech peer Wisetech topped $100 and finished the day up 4.27% to $101.63.
The best performing stock was Aristocrat Leisure, up 12.3%, after it posted double-digit profit for the first half of the financial year and hiked its dividend.
Despite reporting an earnings loss, Incitec Pivot gained 5.32% after also announcing that it was in advanced talks to sell its fertiliser business. Similarly, GrainCorp increased 1.61% despite posting a sharp drop in half-year profit and sales but the company indicated a strong planting period for the 2024/25 winter crop on the East coast.
Atlas Arteria ended the day up 1.68% after avoiding a board spill at its AGM and announcing that it faced a fresh hurdle in its attempts to lift tolls on a US road.
Elsewhere, New Zealand dairy company Fonterra increased 4.73% after outlining plans to sell key businesses.
Gold stocks peppered the top performing 20 stocks as gold prices rose following US inflation figures. Gold plays Perseus Mining (4.55%), Silver Lake Resources (4.59%), De Grey Mining (3.95%) and Gold Road Resources (3.87%) all ended higher.
The worst performing sector was energy, down 0.29%, followed by utilities (0.61%) and industrials (0.93%). Despite global oil prices rising on strong US demand, energy was the only sector to fall on the ASX with large energy stocks Woodside Energy (-0.07%), Santos (-0.13%) and Beach Energy (-2.29%) all falling.
Meanwhile, Namoi Cotton sunk 5.33% after the competition regulator flagged concerns with Louis Dreyfus Company's proposed acquisition of the Queensland cotton operator.
The Australian dollar is lower buying 66.81 US cents.
The context: Tonight will see the US department of Labor publish its latest unemployment claims figures.
