Following a strong rally across global equity markets overnight, the ASX 200 rose for a second straight session, lifting by 30 pts or 0.45 per cent, to 6678. The local Energy sector climbed 2.1 per cent and managed to avoid posting a back-to-back loss, following a rebound in oil prices to above US$100 per barrel. The Resource sector as a whole did much of the heavy lifting, with Materials climbing 1.2 per cent. Eight sectors and 142 stocks finished higher.
For the week, the ASX 200 gained 2.1 per cent – its best performance since mid-March. The Consumer Discretionary sector (up 5.6 per cent) notably posted its largest weekly climb since November 2020, and the Materials sector handed down its fifth straight weekly decline. Of 11 sectors, nine finished higher.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Monthly Business Turnover Indicator publication, in May, nominal business turnover lifted in 11 of the 13 selected industries. The largest increase was in Electricity, gas, water and waste services (22.9 per cent) followed by Manufacturing and Construction (both up by 5.1 per cent).
In company news, Magellan Financial (MFG) released a fundsunder-management (FUM) update, outlining a 5.7 per cent decrease in its total FUM over May (13.7 per cent over the quarter) to $61.3 billion. This comprised of a monthly 5.6 per cent drop in its institutional FUM to $39.1 billion and a monthly 5.9 per cent fall in its retail FUM to $22.2 billion. MFG shed 3.0 per cent and extended its weekly loss to a second straight week.
Gold miner St Barbara (SBM) has climbed 9.6 per cent on the back of a well-received quarterly update. In the update, SBM said that it met its guidance after posting a 40 per cent quarterly increase in its gold production, and a 24 per cent quarterly increase in its cash balance to $98 million. SBM was the second best performer on the market today and had its best week since early March this year.
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Vulcan Energy (VUL) entered into an agreement with Enel Green Power (EGP), an Italian geothermal energy producer, to ‘explore & develop geothermal lithium in Italy’. EGP owns plants in Italy, Chile & the US. Shares of VUL climbed 5.1 per cent today.
We’ve created an infographic on some of the key events which impacted the Australian sharemarket over the past financial year.
3.2bn shares were traded, worth $5.7bn. 944 stocks rose, 410 fell & 376 finished unchanged.
In the US, the non-farm payrolls (employment) data is issued with consumer credit.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
