‘Perfect 10’ days: ASX extends winning streak as WiseTech soars higher

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

The numbers

The Australian sharemarket has finished higher for a 10th straight day – its longest winning streak since December 2015 – after US stocks ticked higher overnight on the back of better-than-expected company earnings.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 16.5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8027, with most sectors in the green, led by information technology (up 1.9 per cent), while healthcare and financial stocks tracked down slightly and utilities dropped 0.5 per cent.

Wall Street is higher across the board.Credit: AP

The lifters

WiseTech was the biggest large-cap advancer yet again, climbing 7.8 per cent following its gains on Wednesday, when the logistics software developer reported a 28 per cent jump in revenue. The stock hit a record high of more than $122 during the session. The wealth of CEO Richard White, who owns a 35.2 per cent stake, leapt by some $3.4 billion to more than $14 billion over two days.

Whitehaven Coal closed 6.3 per cent higher. The energy giant is selling a 30 per cent stake in its Blackwater mine to Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, for $US1.1 billion ($1.6 billion).

Hot on its heels was another one of this week’s earnings winners, pallet maker Brambles, which gained 5.3 per cent after posting an 8 per cent rise in sales to $US6.5 billion on Wednesday.

Super Retail Group surged 6.2 per cent after the Supercheap Auto and Rebel Sport owner posted record sales of $3.9 billion – 2 per cent higher year-on-year.

The laggards

At the other end of the tech spectrum, IT service management company Megaport plunged 21 per cent after its results disappointed the market.

Medibank was the biggest large-cap decliner, down 2.3 per cent, on a weak day for larger healthcare stocks. Its decline came even as the health insurer reported a 14 per cent rise in net profit to $570.4 million for the year to June. Penfolds maker Treasury Wine Estates and Meridian Energy both ended the day 1.9 per cent lower.

Collins Foods, which operates KFC outlets in Australia, plummeted 12.9 per cent after it warned that rising labour and other operational costs would hurt its profit margins this year.

The lowdown

IG Australia market analyst Tony Sycamore said the ASX 200’s “perfect 10” days of growth – coming after a month of record highs that abruptly ended with a $90 billion two-day wipeout – had been characterised by a “gritty grind higher”.

Sycamore said while the rally “may not have showcased the explosive springboard-type moves” expected after dramatic market sell-offs, it suggested it was “more sustainable than previous rallies built on shaky foundations”.

Looking at the market stalwarts, the big four banks all tracked up slightly at the end of the session, apart from Westpac, which shrank 0.8 per cent.

Among the mining heavyweights, Rio Tinto and BHP edged up 0.2 per cent, while Fortescue jumped 2 per cent. Pilbara Minerals grew 2 per cent, while Mineral Resources added 0.8 per cent.

Sycamore said that while the big miners had guided the index higher in a “tentative rebound”, leading to expectations the ASX could break its all-time high of 8148.70, he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see a return to lows in the 7600 region before the end of the year.

The Australian dollar was buying US67.32¢.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent a day after breaking an eight-day winning streak – its longest of the year. The index is back to within 0.8 per cent of its all-time high set last month.

The Dow Jones added 55 points, or 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6 per cent.

Treasury yields eased a bit in the bond market as investors waited for the week’s main event, which will arrive on Friday. That’s when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The hope is he’ll offer clues about how deeply and quickly the Fed will begin cutting interest rates next month after it jacked them to a two-decade high to beat inflation.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“We share a genuine passion for the ABC as a crucially important cultural institution, and in particular for its charter and purpose. Under his leadership at the board level, I am certain the ABC is in very good hands,” said ABC managing director David Anderson, who has announced his resignation, of the public broadcaster’s chairman Kim Williams.

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With AP

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