ASX rises as energy rallies
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket ended higher as it tracked Wall Street gains along with a rally from the energy sector.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.3% to end at 8,011.9, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
The best performing sector was energy, up 0.93%, followed by telecommunication services (0.79%). Oil stocks advanced on the ASX after oil prices settled higher on concerns that a hurricane will disrupt production and refining along the US Gulf Coast this week.
Majors Karoon Energy (2.78%), Beach Energy (2.34%), Woodside Energy (1.05%), Ampol (0.51%) and Santos (0.44%) were all trading higher.
Paladin Energy was the best performer across the ASX 200 as its shares rose 6.33% after Canada's Fission Uranium shareholders approved a takeover by the Perth-based uranium explorer.
Commonwealth Bank shares continued to defy gravity as it hit another record high during the trading day before settling to end 0.59% higher. Macquarie also reached a record high and closed 1.88% higher. Westpac (1.32%) and National Bank Australia (0.33%) also rose.
UBS analysts today noted that investors would be better served picking Australian bank stocks over miners.
The worst performing sector was materials, down 0.27%, followed by consumer discretionary (0.05%). Rio Tinto (0.4%) and BHP (0.03%) both rose as Fortescue (-1.61%) and James Hardie Industries (-0.37%) fell.
The worst performer across the ASX 200 was Steadfast Group as its shares plunged 10.74% after emerging from a trading halt on the ASX, as the insurance broker rejected allegations that it misled customers.
The Australian dollar is buying 66.67 US cents.
The context: Wednesday will see the Reserve Bank’s chief economist Sarah Hunter speak at the Barrenjoey Economic Forum ahead of the next monetary policy meeting set for 23 to 24 September.
Offshore, the latest US CPI figures will be released on Wednesday night ahead of the next monetary policy meeting later this month, which is expected to result in the country’s first interest rate cut since March 2020.
