ASX ends trade slightly higher, with tech stocks weighing but gold, iron ore, banks gain ground

The local tech sector followed Wall Street’s Nasdaq lower, but the resources sector and banks helped the ASX to a modest rise.

The Australian sharemarket inched marginally higher after surrendering gains in afternoon trade, with tech stocks dragging, but resources stocks and banks performing well.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index firmed just 8.3 points or 0.11 per cent to 7304, while the All Ordinaries Index added 7.7 points or 0.1 per cent to 7626.2.

CommSec market analyst Tom Piotrowski said the futures market had been pointing to such a gain, with central banks continuing the theme of withdrawing support measures overnight, this time in Europe.

“The one that stands out the most was the Bank of England: they actually increased interest rates and they spoke about the possibility of more interest rate rises to come in an effort to combat inflation,” Mr Piotrowski said.

“The European Bank similarly said that it would be winding up its support program in the early part of next year in terms of bond purchases.

“To see the European markets behave as orderly as they did under the circumstances was quite encouraging. You saw gains of in excess 1 per cent for most of the leading European markets.

“US markets pulled back a little bit.”

The worst performing index on Wall Street was the tech-heavy Nasdaq, down 2.5 per cent, offsetting gains in the prior session.

That flowed on to the local tech sector, with Afterpay slumping 7.63 per cent to $82.67, Zip shedding 6.07 per cent to $4.18 and Xero declining 4.69 per cent to $134.27, but Iress leapt 5.55 per cent to $13.12, making it the second best performing stock in the ASX200.

EML Payments confirmed media reports of a class action lawsuit commenced by Shine Lawyers, referring to its failure to disclose correspondence with the Central Bank of Ireland in a timely manner.

Dusk is acquiring Eroma Group. Picture: Supplied

But EML claimed it had “at all times” complied with disclosure obligations.

Shares in the company dropped 6.75 per cent to $3.04.

Magellan Financial Group lifted 1.77 per cent to $29.36 before going into a trading halt pending an announcement on “the termination of a material contract”, reportedly a multi-billion dollar arrangement with UK-listed wealth manager St James’s Place.

Healius dropped 3.03 per cent to $5.12 after Virtus Health terminated its $45m purchase of subsidiary Adora Fertility, following objections by the consumer watchdog, which was miffed Virtus had proceeded with the deal “without informal clearance”.

The ACCC was concerned the acquisition would increase Virtus’ already significant market share in Brisbane and Melbourne amid strong indications Adora had been a vigorous competitor, driving down prices for IVF services through a low-cost model.

Healius also advised it was buying bioanalytical laboratories Agilex Biolabs for $301.3m.

Sonic Healthcare slid 2.44 per cent to $43.15 after saying it had purchased Texas-based anatomical pathology company ProPath for an unspecified sum.

Toll road operator Transurban Group advised it had reached an agreement with the Victorian government and the CPB John Holland Joint Venture on the West Gate Tunnel over the disposal of toxic waste.

Transurban said it would contribute an additional $1.7bn to the project.

“Additional insurance costs are noted, and TCL has advised investors of a delay in revenue, given the revised completion date of late 2025,” CommSec associate equity market analyst Divik Nigam said.

“In a traffic update, TCL notes a recovery trend which is ‘particularly evident in Sydney and Melbourne following the lifting of restrictions in October’.”

Transurban shares slipped 0.95 per cent to $13.53.

The spot gold price has climbed to almost $US1800 an ounce. Picture: Jung Yeon-je / AFP

Candles retailer Dusk announced it would buy Eroma Group for $28m, saying it has developed and owned the recipe for more than 900 fragrance formulations, giving it a unique market position in Australia.

Dusk shares jumped 7.19 per cent to $3.13.

Gold stocks rose along with the price of the precious metal as bond yields eased, with Northern Star leaping 5.59 per cent to $9.45 – making it the top performing stock in the ASX200 – Evolution Mining gaining 4.23 per cent to $3.94 and Newcrest rising 3.73 per cent to $23.65.

Spot gold was trading near $US1799 an ounce at the US close, according to CommSec, while iron ore added 4.6 per cent to $US114.70 per tonne.

Champion Iron advanced 5.53 per cent to $4.96, Mineral Resources gained 2.04 per cent to $49.48, BHP improved 1.82 per cent to $41.40 and Fortescue lifted 0.96 per cent to $18.98, but Rio Tinto was steady at $98.

ANZ added 0.73 per cent to $27.63, Commonwealth Bank put on 2.4 per cent to $99.12, National Australia Bank edged 0.28 per cent higher to $28.83 and Westpac firmed 0.33 per cent to $21.03.

The Aussie dollar was buying 71.73 US cents, 53.75 British pence and 63.2 Euro cents in afternoon trade.