By Kayla Olaya
Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day.
The numbers
The Australian sharemarket has closed at a two-week high and within touching distance of its highest daily close on record after investors pushed US stocks to record highs last week following a run of reassuring profit reports from America’s big banks. The health and mining sectors were among the top performers.
US stocks rose to records last week as big banks rallied following a run of reassuring profit reports.Credit: Bloomberg
The S&P/ASX 200 closed on green on Monday, up 38.3 points or 0.47 per cent to 8252.8 points at 4.36pm AEDT, despite energy stocks lagging and Web Travel Group taking a nose-dive after disappointing preliminary results. The index hit an all-time closing high of 8269.85 points on September 30.
The lifters
The top performers throughout the day were mining company Regis Resources (up 6 per cent), health care company Nanosonics (up 4.5 per cent) and mining company Bellevue Gold (up 4.4 per cent).
Mining giants BHP (up 0.8 per cent), Rio Tinto (up 1.1 per cent) and Fortescue (up 2.8 per cent) all closed in the green zone.
Treasury Wine told the market this morning it was settling a four-year-old shareholder class action for $65 million over alleged misleading or deceptive consumer conduct and breaches of continuous disclosure obligations.
The hefty settlement, including interest and costs, will be fully met by insurance and requires approval from the Supreme Court of Victoria. “In reaching this settlement, TWE makes no admission of liability,” the global winemaker said.
Treasury’s investors don’t appear too fazed. Its shares dipped slightly lower in morning trading but they lifted back to close the session (up 1.5 per cent).
The laggards
Web Travel Group, formerly known as Webjet Limited, was the worst performer on the index, down 36 per cent following a disappointing preliminary results update. Next worst were gambling company Tabcorp (down 5 per cent) and Strike Energy (down 4.4 per cent).
Shares of TPG Telecom fell 4.1 per cent after it sealed a $5.2 billion deal to sell its fibre assets and the company’s fixed business serving enterprise, government and wholesale customers to Vocus Group, which is backed by Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super.
The lowdown
HSBC Australia, NZ and global commodities chief economist Paul Bloxham says that the Reserve Bank of Australia is in a different spot to other central banks, as core inflation is falling more slowly in Australia than in other countries.
Bloxham says there are three reasons for this.
“First, they lifted the policy rate by less than most others; less tightening should mean slower disinflation. Second, the surge in population growth from very strong inward migration, particularly in 2023, likely added more to demand than supply, supporting inflation. Third, the supply side of the economy has been very weak, with labour productivity no higher now than it was in 2016; one of the weakest results across the developed world,” he said.
“Finally, fiscal policy and net public spending have recently been contributing more to growth and demand in the economy, which has also slowed the pace of disinflation. This public demand point has been a critical part of our RBA higher for longer view since late last year.”
Last week, the US S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent to top its all-time high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 409 points, or 1 per cent, to set its own record. The Nasdaq composite lagged the market with a gain of 0.3 per cent after a slide for Tesla kept it in check.
Wells Fargo rose 5.6 per cent after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It benefited from better results from its venture capital investments and higher fees for investment banking services, among other things.
Banks and other financial giants traditionally kick off each earnings season, and JPMorgan Chase climbed 4.4 per cent after reporting a milder drop in profit than analysts feared.
CEO Jamie Dimon said the nation’s largest bank was also still buying back shares of its stock to send cash to investors, but the pace was modest “given that market levels are at least slightly inflated”.
Tweet of the day
Quote of the day
“It’s a loss for the country as it’s such a valuable resource to have multilingual citizens. We’re not capitalising on that or ensuring a pipeline of students with these critical skills,” says Merryl Wahlin, a language teacher at the University of Sydney.
That’s the latest from education editor Lucy Carroll on the number of Higher School Certificate students studying foreign languages falling to record lows in NSW.
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The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.