A rebound in key commodities overnight helped the Aussie market secure its fourth straight win, with the ASX 200 finishing 57.6pts or 0.86 per cent higher, to 6763.6. Materials and Energy stocks added 3.6 per cent and 3.0 per cent, respectively, and did most of the heavy lifting after five sectors finished lower. Of the sectors that fell, Consumer Discretionary declined most, shedding 1.3 per cent and snapping a three-day winning streak in the process. The ASX 200 is still down 6.2 per cent this month and is on track to deliver its worst performance since January this year.
In economic news, the weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index improved by 3.7 per cent – the biggest lift in 14 months – to 84.7 points. This is the 16th consecutive week the index is below the 100-point neutral mark, indicating that the number of pessimists outweigh optimists.
With consumer confidence at historically low levels, Commonwealth (CBA) Group economists expect retail spending to have fallen by 1.0 per cent in May, when released by the Bureau of Statistics (ABS) tomorrow.
In company news, Collins Food (CKF) – the operator of 261 KFC restaurants – was the best performer after it climbed 11.5 per cent – its best day since November last year. This is on the back of CKF’s annual results, which showed an 11.1 per cent increase in its revenues, a 25 per cent jump in profits and a reduction in net debt to $174.9 million. CKF also increased its final dividend for FY22 by 20 per cent over the year, to 15 cents per share.
Salmon farming company Tassal (TGR) has received its third takeover proposal from Canadian group Cooke Inc, with an offer price of $4.85 per share. TGR’s board has determined that the proposal ‘does not reflect the fundamental value of the business and is not in the best interests of shareholders’. This follows two other rejected proposals received from Cooke for $4.67 per share and $4.80 per share.
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4.3bn shares were traded, worth $7bn. 761 stocks rose, 770 fell & 363 finished unchanged.
In the US, data on home prices is issued with consumer confidence, the Richmond Federal Reserve index and international goods trade.
Later this week, an important gauge of US inflation – the PCE core deflator –is due. Core inflation is tipped to increase by 0.5 per cent. US economic growth figures will also be handed down on Wednesday, a 1.4 per cent quarterly contraction is expected – its first contraction in eight quarters.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author) CommSec
