Miners, energy stocks power ASX; Arcadium shares soar on Rio deal

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day.

The numbers

The Australian sharemarket lifted on Thursday, led by miners and energy stocks, after traders gearing up for the latest US inflation data sent stocks to fresh all-time highs on Wall Streeton .

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 35.6 points, or 0.4 per cent, higher at 8223.0, with several sectors finishing flat and utilities weighing on the index with losses of 0.9 per cent.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The market is awaiting the latest US inflation figures.Credit: Bloomberg

The lifters

Arcadium Lithium’s local shares stormed 39 per cent higher after Rio Tinto revealed after the end of Wednesday’s trading session that it had signed a deal to buy the US producer for $US6.7 billion ($10 billion). Rio shares finished 1.4 per cent higher as investors reacted to the news.

Miners were the best performing sector overall, with Fortescue closing 4 per cent higher and shares of the world’s largest miner BHP up 1.4 per cent. Australia’s leading lithium producer, Pilbara Minerals, jumped 2.5 per cent.

It was a mixed day for the big four banks: CBA finished 0.4 per cent higher and ANZ up 0.3 per cent, while NAB dipped 0.5 per cent and Westpac finished 0.4 per cent lower.

Energy giants Woodside and Santos rose, gaining 0.7 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, after oil prices rebounded from a two-day decline as traders watched for an Israeli response to Iran’s missile attack early last week, while US crude stockpiles expanded the most since April.

The laggards

Fletcher Building wound up at the bottom of the bourse, dipping 2.4 per cent. Ansell fell 2.2 per cent and Spark New Zealand lost 2.1 per cent.

The lowdown

Australian Vintage finished 3.2 per cent higher after announcing that Craig Garvin – fired from the job of chief executive a few months ago for “engaging in conduct that, in [the board’s] view, displayed a lack of judgment and was inconsistent with the values of the company and the high standards expected of its chief executive officer” – has been rehired.

“Craig’s track record at AVG, his leadership style and deep understanding of our industry and our partners make him the right person to lead the company,” said chairman James Williamson.

Super Retail Group inched 0.2 per cent higher after announcing that Amazon executive Kate Burleigh would be appointed to the board as a non-executive director. Burleigh was executive chair and Australia-New Zealand country manager for Amazon Alexa and has spent two decades at Intel, including as managing director.

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Guzman y Gomez finished 0.2 per cent higher after initially slipping. The Mexican fast food chain said its sales jumped by 20.7 per cent in the September quarter, less than hoped for by investors. Growth was driven by its Australian operations, while sales at its four US outlets softened.

Brent traded near $US77 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was close to $US74. The market remains on edge about Israel’s intentions to launch a retaliatory strike against Tehran, which has sparked fears about an all-out war.

On Wall Street, the three main US stock indexes rose on Wednesday as investors digested Federal Reserve meeting minutes ahead of the September inflation figures and earnings reports. On the eve of a report expected to show consumer prices continued to moderate, the S&P 500 approached 5800. The gauge hit its 44th record in 2024, with tech shares again leading the charge.

US stocks held their gains after the release of the Fed’s September meeting minutes showed a “substantial majority” of officials supported an outsized half-point rate cut. There was broader agreement that the move would not commit the Fed to any particular pace of cuts in the future.

After the news, traders were slightly less optimistic about an easing in November, pricing in a 76 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point reduction in borrowing costs and a 24 per cent probability the Fed keeps rates on hold, according to CME’s FedWatch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1 per cent higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6 per cent. Most S&P 500 industry sectors rose, although rate-sensitive utilities and real estate fell along with the communications services index, which includes Alphabet.

Shares in market heavyweight Alphabet were down 1.6 per cent after the US Department of Justice said it may ask a judge to force Google to divest parts of its business. These include its Chrome web browser and its Android operating system, to curtail its search monopoly.

Financial shares led gains as investors braced for the start of the earnings season on Friday. Apple climbed 1.7 per cent, while Tesla lost 1.4 per cent ahead of its Robotaxi launch on Thursday. Boeing fell 3.4 per cent after talks between the company and its key manufacturing union broke down.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“All of our specials, discounts and programs like ‘Down Down’, we aim to genuinely provide genuine savings for our customers, and that goes to the heart of customer trust, and it’s something that we take very seriously at Coles.”

That’s Coles chief executive Leah Weckert when asked about the allegedly “illusory discounts” that the ACCC has accused the two supermarket chains of.

You may have missed

Australian lobster farmers will be able to resume exporting to the lucrative Chinese market by the end of the year, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing China had agreed to lift its last major remaining trade barrier on the industry.

Albanese made the announcement after meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the ASEAN summit in Laos on Thursday afternoon.

“With our patient, calibrated and deliberate approach, we’ve restored Australian trade with our largest export market, and today we discuss restarting exports of Australian live rock lobsters,” Albanese said, praising the work done to effect “the removal of trade impediments one by one”.

Reuters, Bloomberg

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