Local investors ignored another sell-off in the US overnight and pushed the Aussie market to secure its third straight rally, with the ASX 200 rising 9.8 points or 0.14 per cent to 6986.7. Five sectors (of 11) and 44 per cent of stocks in the ASX 200 gained ground. The Mining and Energy (both +1.1 per cent) sectors did most of the heavy lifting, driven partly by on optimism that China will reduce Covid-19 restrictions. Coal miner Coronado Global Resources (CRN) was the best performer today, lifting 8.8 per cent. The Financials sector finished on a flat note, and the Big 4 banks
wrapped up the session mixed.

Domino’s Pizza (DMP) hosted its annual general meeting (AGM) today and provided a FY23 trading update. It says that its ‘sales momentum has improved in all markets from the start of the 2nd quarter’, but its sales have edged lower (down 1.8 per cent) over the prior corresponding period. It expects ‘inflationary headwinds to continue into the 2023 calendar year’ and anticipates its earnings to be ‘materially lower in H1’, partly due to ‘adverse currency
movements’. DMP advised shareholders of a ‘challenging shortterm outlook’, but remains confident in their ‘medium-to-long-term’ performance. Shares slid 5.3 per cent and are down 49 per cent year-to-date.

Rio Tinto (RIO) has reconfirmed its C$43 per share acquisition offer for the remaining 49 per cent of issued shares of Turquoise Hill, a Canadian-based miner focused on copper-gold mining in southern Mongolia. The acquisition was first announced to shareholders at the start of September. Shares lifted 2.4 per cent.

Lake Resources (LKE) announced an update on its Kachi Project. It said that Lilac Solution’s demonstration plant has delivered product from the Kachi project, ‘achieving 80 per cent lithium recoveries’. Lilac anticipates the first samples of Lithium Chloride to be shipped for conversion within a fortnight. LKE rose 5.2 per cent and was the third best performer.

On the economic front in the US, the Federal Reserve will hand down its interest rate decision. Markets expect the central bank to raise its interest rates by 75 basis points to 4 per cent. Any surprises, either by the Federal Reserve or by Jerome Powell’s speech, could move markets and set the tone for how the local sharemarket performs tomorrow.

 

Top Australian Brokers

 

The US earnings season continues tonight with Berkshire Hathaway, Metlife, eBay and Atlassian among some of the
companies expected to release earnings updates.

Today, 3bn shares were traded, worth $7.3bn. 661 stocks rose, 663 fell & 423 finished unchanged.

Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec