ASX opens higher; REA Group, Pinnacle soar on full-year earnings
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
More news: Australian shares climbed at the open, with real estate platform REA Group and investment manager Pinnacle leading gains after reporting strong full-year results.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 52.7 points, or 0.6%, to 8,823.1 at 10:30am AEST. Nine of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory.
Real estate listings platform REA Group was up 8.5% after reporting a 23% jump in full-year profit and a better-than-expected dividend. Its parent company News Corp, was also one of the top performers on the ASX 200, adding 4.5% following the release of its full-year earnings earlier this morning.
Pinnacle Investment Management jumped 7.7% after recording a 49% increase in full-year profit.
Elsewhere, shares in small cap Infomedia soared 27.7% after the software provider received a $651 million takeover offer from global asset manager TPG.
Australian shares to rise after economic data weighs on US stocks
The news: Australian shares are poised to rise at the open after Wall Street's three major indices all ended lower, as new data showed the US services sector effectively stagnated in July.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: up 11 points, or 0.12% to 8,739 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.14%, S&P 500 down 0.49% and Nasdaq down 0.65%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.14%, DAX up 0.37% and FTSE 100 up 0.16%
- Spot gold: up 0.21% to USD3,381 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.04% to USD67.67/bbl and US WTI down 1.69% to USD65.17/bbl
- AUD: up 0.08% to 64.74 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.12% to USD113,820.
The context: US stocks ended lower after the monthly ISM non-manufacturing index slipped to 50.1, below all market estimates. New figures also showed that employment contracted for the fourth time in five months, falling to 46.4, as firms slowed hiring and did not backfill open roles.
Meanwhile, KFC parent Yum Brands and manufacturing giant Caterpillar both warned of tariff impacts as they reported their second-quarter earnings. Yum Brands ended 5.1% lower after missing estimates, claiming new trade duties restricted consumer spending during the period. Caterpillar ended 0.1% higher but said tariffs have cost the company up to USD1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) in 2025 so far.
In the local market, real estate platform REA Group, Bunnings landlord BWP Trust, and commercial property investor Charter Hall Long WALE REIT are due to release their full-year results this morning.
