ASX rebounds as all sectors gain
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended higher after clawing back most of Wednesday losses with IT and utilities leading gains.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX200 finished up 0.45% to 7,817.3, with all 11 sectors ending in green.
The best performing sector was IT, up 1.18%, followed by utilities (0.94%) and real estate (0.75%). Interest rate sensitive large tech and real estate companies all rose following the US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s remarks that the central bank would cut rates later this year. Wisetech (2.46%), NextDC (2.02%), Goodman Group (0.43%), Scentre Group (0.31%), and Stockland (1.07%) all gained.
Gold-related stocks also rose after gold prices increased to a record high after Powell’s speech with Evolution Mining up 1.19%, Regis Resources up 2.58%, Northern Star up 0.82%, and Newmont up 0.19%.
Uranium and lithium miners also increased with Arcadium Lithium the best performing stock on the ASX 200, up 5.82%, followed by Liontown (5.22%).
Meanwhile, Cochlear shares finished 1.23% higher after the competition regulator green-lit its proposed acquisition of Oticon Medical, AUB Group shares rose 1.56%, following Morningstar placing it on its “best ideas” list, and oOh!Media ended up 4.46% after receiving a “buy” rating from UBS.
Lendlease also enjoyed gains of 1.44% despite receiving a letter from shareholder Tanarra Capital that pointed to the need for fundamental change and accused the company of having an “arrogant” culture.
The worst performing sector was consumer staples, up 0.1%, followed by healthcare (0.23%) and materials (0.33%).
Iron ore stocks were notably down as global iron ore prices continued to plummet with stocks Fortescue (-1.31%), Rio Tinto (-1.29%), Champion Iron (-0.97%) and BHP (-0.18%) posting falls.
The Australian dollar is higher buying US65.87 cents.
The context: On Friday the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the latest international trade in goods figures while the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release unemployment rate figures.
