ASX starts higher as DroneShield rallies; Bendigo Bank sinks on anti-money laundering deficiencies
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More news: Australian shares edged higher at the open, as tech, mining and healthcare stocks led gains. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 12.4 points, or 0.15%, to 8,537.5 at 10:30am AEDT. Five of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory.
Embattled defence technology firm DroneShield was the top performer on the ASX 200, rocketing 13.2% after announcing a $5.2 million contract in Europe.
Hospital operator Ramsay Health Care (+13.1%) and B2B travel company Web Travel Group (+12.5%) also surged after releasing trading updates this morning.
Elsewhere, gold miners tracked spot prices higher, with Greatland Resources (+7%), Genesis Minerals (+5.9%), and Bellevue Gold (+5.6%) leading the rally.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (-6.3%) was the worst performer after Deloitte found deficiencies in the lender's management of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing risk.
Financial software provider Iress (-5.6%) dropped after emerging from a trading halt, telling the exchange there is 'no basis' to a media report, which included details of takeover talks with private equity suitor Blackstone.
Australian shares to climb as Wall St extends rally on rate cut hopes
The news: Australian shares are set to rise at the open as US tech stocks paced advances on Wall Street overnight, as investors reacted to growing optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 32 points, or 0.37%, to 8,569
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.53%, S&P 500 up 1.46% and Nasdaq up 2.64%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.29%, DAX up 0.64% and FTSE 100 down 0.05%
- Spot gold: up 1.55% to USD4,125 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 1.36% to USD63.41/bbl and US WTI up 1.51% to USD58.94/bbl
- AUD: up 0.16% at 64.68 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 2.23% to USD88,764.
The context: US stocks extended gains from Friday as a slate of delayed economic reports pointed to weakness in the US labour market and elevated inflation, raising hopes for an interest rate cut when the Fed meets next month.
Fed governor Christopher Waller and San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly both indicated support for a rate cut in separate interviews on Monday, echoing comments by New York Fed president John Williams on Friday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 surged more than 2%, with each of the 'Magnificent 7' megacaps seeing strong gains.
In the local market, Monadelphous, Star Entertainment, Ramsay Health Care, Ramelius Resources and Pilbara Minerals all host their annual general meetings today.
