Australian sharemarket virtually unchanged despite end to technical recession

The ASX finished pretty well where it started despite better-than-expected GDP figures showing the economy is no longer in recession.

The sharemarket was virtually unchanged despite better-than-expected national accounts that showed Australia was technically out of recession.

The S&P/ASX200 finished just 1.7 points firmer at 6590.2 while the All Ordinaries Index eased 0.90 points to 6811.3.

CommSec analyst James Tao said September gross domestic product growth of 3.3 per cent eclipsed expectations of a 2 to 2.5 per cent rise.

Miners were the best performers after the iron ore price hit six-year highs.

Rio Tinto gained 1.98 per cent to $104.99 and BHP lifted 1.95 per cent to $39.31 but Fortescue backtracked 0.55 per cent to $18.23.

Sandfire Resources continued to surge for the second straight day after green lighting a new copper mine in Botswana, then holding an investor outlook and strategy update session. Shares in the miner surged 12.27 per cent to $5.40.

Syrah Resources jumped more than 11 per cent to $1.05 after saying there was a strong case to expand its natural graphite active anode material production facility in the US.

Dreamworld is again back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Ardent Leisure slipped 3.5 per cent to 82 cents after reports the mother of a girl who suffered severe injuries on a water slide at Dreamworld was suing the company.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has been issued Ardent with an improvement notice regarding patron safety.

Another theme park operator in the state, Village Roadshow, announced it had been audited by the Australian Taxation Office and told to pay about $11 million, with penalty notices also anticipated.

The company, which runs Warner Bros Movie World and Sea World, pledged to contest the matter and its shares slid 0.68 per cent to $2.93.

Motor vehicle leasing and fleet management provider SG Fleet Group rose almost 6 per cent to $2.30 thanks to media speculation it was in talks with potential partners about consolidating.

Shares in Treasury Wine Estates regained some ground after being hammered by the China tariffs bombshell. Picture: Christopher Russell

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates added 2.98 per cent to $8.65, halting four straight days of losses due to China’s punitive tariffs on Australian wine imports.

Mesoblast secured fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for its treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome due to COVID-19 infection. The company’s shares shot up 7.26 per cent to $4.43.

The biggest company on the ASX, CSL, dropped 1.16 per cent to $296.26.

The big four banks were mixed. ANZ put on 0.66 per cent to $23.03, Commonwealth Bank gave up 0.19 per cent to $80.10, National Australia Bank retreated 0.17 per cent to $23 and Westpac inched 0.1 per cent higher to $20.30 after selling its general insurance division to Allianz for $725 million.

The Aussie dollar was fetching 73.72 US cents, 54.94 British pence and 61.05 Euro cents in afternoon trade.

Originally published as Australian sharemarket virtually unchanged despite end to technical recession