Australian sharemarket closes marginally higher after fading from intraday peaks, CBA hits record

The ASX ended today’s session in the green despite fading in the final minutes of trade, with winners including Commonwealth Bank and gold miners.

The Australian sharemarket started the week on a high note but ran out of steam in the final moments of trade on Monday, with gold miners and the Commonwealth Bank among the best performers.

The S&P/ASX200 firmed 0.13 per cent to 7023.6 while the All Ordinaries Index rose 0.23 per cent to 7255.8.

It followed on from gains on Friday and also decent improvements on Wall Street, CommSec analyst James Tao said.

Gold producers were a standout as the price of the precious metal — a defensive asset class — sat about $US1854.

Evolution Mining climbed 5.35 per cent to $5.12, Northern Star gained 6.55 per cent to $11.22, Ramelius Resources jumped 7.76 per cent to $1.87, Resolute Mining surged 7.83 per cent to 62 cents and Newcrest Mining added 2.6 per cent to $28.35.

Gold is a defensive asset class, so favoured in uncertain times. Picture: David Gray/AFP

“When uncertainty starts to creep back into markets, gold is typically very quick to respond, and that’s what we’re seeing today,” OpenMarkets Group chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said.

CBA finished up 1.25 per cent at $97.79 after hitting a fresh record high of $98.40 about noon AEST.

Mr Tchourilov said the technical picture for CBA was “very bullish”, so he wouldn’t be surprised if its shares tested $100 in coming weeks.

ANZ slid 0.4 per cent to $27.31, National Australia Bank backtracked 0.65 per cent to $26.05 and Westpac shed 0.32 per cent to $25.33.

Macquarie Group was the main drag on the market, trading ex-dividend and sliding 4.9 per cent to $150.59.

Among consumer discretionary stocks, JB Hi-Fi gained 2.56 per cent to $48.47 and Harvey Norman lifted 2.12 per cent to $5.29.

Commonwealth Bank shares have had a strong run of late. Picture: David Clark

Consumer staples softened, with Coles inching 0.12 per cent lower to $16.33 while fellow supermarket giant Woolworths dipped 0.32 per cent to $40.45.

Among mining stocks, Rio Tinto appreciated 0.49 per cent to $126.04, BHP firmed three cents to $49.60 and Fortescue added 1.36 per cent to $23.10.

In the energy sector, the big news was the federal government’s $2.1bn support package for Australia’s last two remaining oil refiners Ampol and Viva Energy, which rose 6.09 per cent to $27.51 and 7.04 per cent to $2.13 respectively.

“Global oil supermajors BP and Exxon Mobil have recently announced plans to cease refining operations due to weak margins,” CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman noted.

“Encouragingly, Ampol said today it would keep its Lytton refinery in Queensland open until at least mid-2027.

“And Geelong-based refiner, Viva Energy, also welcomed the package.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison toured the Lytton refinery meeting staff on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/John Gass

Crown Resorts finally responded to US private equity giant Blackstone’s takeover offer, knocking it back by saying even the improved price undervalued the casino giant.

Crown also asked rival Star Entertainment Group to give more detail on its merger proposal to create a $12bn gambling and entertainment behemoth, saying its board had not yet formed a view on the merits of the bid.

Crown shares lifted 0.84 per cent to $13.15 while Star shares rose 0.99 per cent to $4.10.

Accounting software provider Xero was crucified last week, Mr Tchourilov noted, but got some love from investors today, rising 5.56 per cent to $118.75.

Carsales.com slumped 11.84 per cent to $17.20 after emerging from a trading halt entered into last week while it completed part of a capital raising to pay for the acquisition of US-based Trader Interactive.

Aristocrat Leisure flagged better-than-expected half year earnings results would be confirmed next Monday, sending the pokies maker 4.23 per cent higher to $38.92.

Trading has been strong for pokies maker Aristocrat Leisure.

Explosives maker Incitec Pivot reported a 44 per cent plunge in statutory net profit, with chief executive Jeanne Johns blaming COVID-delayed scheduled turnarounds as well as some unplanned manufacturing outages.

Shares in the company dropped 1.66 per cent to $2.37.

Moody’s Investors Service analyst Maadhavi Barber said the result was credit negative for Incitec Pivot.

“We expect Incitec Pivot’s second half earnings to remain supported by technology growth in the explosives segment, continued demand in the fertilisers segment, as well as cost savings,” she said.

“However, we consider a strong focus on manufacturing plant reliability, particularly with another plant turnaround scheduled in the second half, will be important for Incitec Pivot’s second half earnings.”

The Aussie dollar was fetching 77.67 US cents, 54.99 British pence and 63.92 Euro cents in afternoon trade.

Originally published as Australian sharemarket closes marginally higher after fading from intraday peaks, CBA hits record