The Aussie sharemarket kicked off a strong note, but withdrew some of its gains after the ASX 200 finished 0.36 per cent higher, or 25.4 pts, to 7121.1. Financial stocks weighed on the index heavily after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced its largest rate hike in 22 years yesterday. Energy stocks had their best day since early March after the price of US crude finished near 14-year highs overnight.
The Financials sector suffered from its greatest loss in nearly a year, with the big four banks amongst the worst performers in the ASX 200. This comes after the RBA announced a larger-than expected 50 basis point rate hike. Westpac (WBC) finished 6.1 per cent lower to $21.98. Commonwealth Bank (CBA) shares also shed 4.4 per cent to $97.47. Australia & New Zealand Bank (ANZ) lost 2.3 per cent and finished at $23.89. And shares of National Australia Bank (NAB) declined 4.0 per cent to close at $28.91.
Atlas Arteria (ALX) was the best performer after it climbed 16.2 per cent. This comes after IFM Global Infrastructure Fund obtained a 15 per cent interest in the toll road operator. IFM intends to request ‘certain limited company’ information from ALX to potentially take it over.
Boral (BLD) has appointed Vik Bansal as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director, effective on or before 5 December. Mr Bansal has over 30 years of leadership experience and currently CEO of steel manufacturer InfraBuild. BLD shares had their best day since March 2020 after climbing 14.7 per cent, making it the second best performer on the ASX 200.
Platinum Asset Management’s (PTM) funds-under-management (FUM) reduced by 0.9 per cent to $19,588 million in May. The fund manager says that it “experienced net outflows of approximately $209 million”, which included “net outflows form the Platinum Trust Funds of approximately $154 million”. PTM shares finished 0.9 per cent higher.
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Sims Group (SGM), a metal recycler, has reaffirmed the $750million – $770million earnings (EBIT) guidance it provided at the Macquarie Conference on May 5. SGM says that it is closely “managing the impacts of freight and logistics volatility” but expects “challenging conditions” around “geopolitical & economic uncertainty” to continue into Q1FY23.
5bn shares were traded, worth $10bn. 669 stocks finished higher, 773 ended lower, while 421 closed unchanged.
In the US, weekly mortgage applications data are scheduled with wholesale trade sales and inventories figures.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
