Banks, healthcare stocks push ASX to latest record; IAG jumps on $855m deal

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

The numbers

The Australian sharemarket set another record high on Thursday, with a dour session for the energy and industrials sectors not enough to stop another positive day of trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 37.6 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 8444.3 points at the close of session, after adding 0.6 per cent on Wednesday. Six of the 11 industry sectors rose, with the healthcare sector (up 1.6 per cent) leading the charge.

The Australian dollar finished marginally weaker, and was valued at US64.90¢ as at 4.56pm AEDT.

Wall Street’s tech giants retreated on Wednesday.Credit: AP

The lifters

Insurance giant IAG jumped 3.6 per cent after announcing it had agreed to buy 90 per cent of the insurance underwriting business of roadside assistance and insurance group Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) for $855 million, with an option to buy the rest in two years on the same terms. The deal would increase earnings from the first full year of ownership, IAG said.

The banks advanced, pushing the ASX higher. Commonwealth Bank – the largest stock on the ASX – rose 0.6 per cent, while Westpac (up 0.8 per cent), ANZ (up 0.4 per cent) and NAB (up 0.9 per cent) were also in the green. Insurers QBE and Suncorp gained 1.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

Health giant Pro Medicus was among the big winners on Thursday, adding 8.7 per cent. The company announced that it had signed a 10-year, $330 million contract with the US non-profit Trinity Health. CSL (up 1.6 per cent) and Resmed (up 1.3 per cent) also advanced.

Origin Energy’s share value rose 0.9 per cent and APA Group (up 0.4 per cent) made gains, while mining heavyweight BHP gained 0.7 per cent and Fortescue rose 0.3 per cent, while Rio Tinto lost less than 0.1 per cent.

Energy giants Woodside Energy (up 0.1 per cent) and Yancoal Australia (0.2 per cent) were also in the green.

Guzman y Gomez enjoyed a positive day, finishing 3 per cent higher.

The laggards

Star Entertainment shares slid by 7.1 per cent after boss Steve McCann told investors at the company’s AGM that it had posted an underlying loss before significant items of $27 million for the first four months of fiscal 2025.

The consumer discretionary sector was flat after leading the market higher on Wednesday. Kmart and Bunnings’ owner Wesfarmers was down 0.6 per cent, while Harvey Norman dropped 2.2 per cent.

Webjet’s shares plunged 7.7 per cent after the ACCC started proceedings in the Federal Court against the online travel booking site over allegations of false and misleading representations towards consumers about flight prices and bookings.

Sleep apnoea treatments maker Fisher & Paykel lost 2.1 per cent after reporting a 43 per cent jump in first-half net profits to $153 million and reiterating its forecast to make between $320 million and $370 million profit for the full year. The stock had rallied hard leading up to the results, surging more than 30 per cent over the past six months.

The lowdown

Triple3 Partners director Simon Ho was keeping a close eye on the sharemarket after president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff vow, where on Tuesday he said he would impose hefty new tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China from the first day of his second administration.

Ho said that “everybody’s taking stock” in light of Trump’s comments, forecasting that global trade markets could be “absolutely walloped” by the proposed tariffs.

“There’s really nothing that I can see that will temper what Trump will do,” Ho said. “It’s not unprecedented, but it’s very unusual.”

The economy is set to be shocked by the implementation of the new tariffs, which could raise prices on a wide range of goods and accelerate the rate of inflation.

The strong day on the ASX came even as Wall Street posted its first loss in more than a week on Wednesday, led down by technology stocks.

On Wall Street overnight, losses for tech heavyweights like Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were a drag on the US market. Semi-conductor giant Nvidia fell 1.2 per cent. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on indexes. Microsoft fell 1.2 per cent and Broadcom finished 3.1 per cent lower.

Several personal computer makers also helped pull the market lower following their latest earnings reports. HP sank 11.4 per cent after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slid 12.2 per cent after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Gains for financial and healthcare companies helped temper the market’s losses. Berkshire Hathaway rose 0.9 per cent and Merck & Co. added 1.5 per cent.

US markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“Birmo has a young family, and I know he’s going to be looking forward to spending more time with them, and he’s given an enormous amount to our country.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, after Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister and Senate Opposition Leader Simon Birmingham announced his retirement from politics on Thursday. Birmingham previously served as Finance, Trade and Education Minister.

You may have missed

Veteran retailer Gerry Harvey has shrugged off his company’s court battles as posing no risk to its brand or reputation as the furniture and white goods retailer fights to overturn a Federal Court ruling and two class actions.

Speaking after Harvey Norman’s annual general meeting in Sydney, which suffered from technical difficulties preventing investors, analysts and media from dialling in remotely, Harvey pointed to the nation’s big supermarkets and airlines as some large companies recently subject to public backlash.

With AP

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