The Aussie sharemarket has finished the last day of the week on a strong note. The S&P/ASX 200 commenced on a strong note and finished near session highs, adding 1.1 per cent or 76.8pts, to 7182.7. Energy stocks delivered the strongest gains and were led by an overnight rally in the oil price. The Financials sector finished 1.1 per cent higher, supported by a surge in the big four banks. Of the 11 sectors, 10 finished in positive territory.
For the week, the ASX 200 climbed 0.5 per cent, led by the Financials and Energy sectors both posting their largest weekly win since March this year. The Consumer Staples sector however, posted its fifth straight week of declines and is now down 8.8 per cent since April 29, 2022.
Codan (CDA) and PointsBet Holdings (PBH) were the best performing stocks this week, rising by 16.6 per cent and 12.8 percent, respectively. This follows a trading update released by CDA, and a holder statement issued by PBH, which showed that State Street Corporation took a 5 per cent stake in its shares. Tabcorp’s (TAH) shares fell by 81.3 per cent following its demerger of The Lottery Corporation (TLC). Shares of TLC finished 1.9 per cent higher today.
In economic news, retail trade has climbed by 9.6 per cent over the year to a record $33.9 billion. All states and territories posted quarterly increases in retail sales except NSW, which recorded a 0.3 per cent fall over the month. Sales rose the most in food categories as well as clothing and footwear. Shares of retailers JB Hi-Fi (JBH), Super Retail Group (SUL) and Premier Investments Group (PMV) added 2.5 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.
In company news, shares of Appen (APX) came under pressure today and shed 20.9 per cent, making it the worst performer today. This comes after APX informed shareholders that Canadian Technology company, TELUS International, revoked the takeover proposal that they submitted yesterday. APX says that “no reasons were given”.
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Select Harvest (SHV) has retreated 5.9 per cent and closed near session lows after it announced an 18.9 per cent fall in its interim revenues. The company also announced that Michael Iwaniw will
“retire as chairman effective today”, and “will retire as a nonexecutive director on 30 June 2022”. SHV has appointed Travis Dillon as Chairman effective 27 May 2022.
4bn shares were traded, worth $6.8bn. 786 stocks finished higher, 611 ended lower, while 431 closed unchanged.
Tonight in the US, data on personal income and spending, inventories, consumer confidence and goods trade are all scheduled. Over the next week, Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers are scheduled, along with the US unemployment rate.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
