The Aussie sharemarket kicked the week off on a strong note and finished at session highs after the ASX 200 added 1.45 per cent or 103.9 pts, to 7286.6. A strong lead from Wall St. on Friday caused the Tech sector to climb 4.6 per cent and post its first three-day winning streak in two months. A rally in base metals on Friday also supported a 2.2 per cent increase in the local mining sector. Of the 11 sectors, 10 finished in the green.
The best performers today were driven by a broad tech-rally and included Zip Co (ZIP), Novonix (NVX) and Block (SQ2), which added 14 per cent, 11 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively. Elders (ELD) was amongst the worst performers today after its shares traded ex-dividend and shed 2.7 per cent.
In company news, AGL Energy (AGL) shares finished 1.7 per cent lower after it withdrew its demerger proposal. The withdrawal comes after AGL said it “will not receive sufficient support to meet the 75 per cent approval threshold”. It also advised that its estimated expenditure to date is “approximately $160 million of the total $260 million estimated cost of the demerger”. Alongside the update, AGL has also made some changes to its management team. AGL said that Chairman Peter Botten will resign and Graeme Hunt will step down as CEO and Managing Director.
A widespread shortage of infant formula in the United States has pushed the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to “exercise discretion for the immediate import, sale and distribution of all six Bubs Infant Formula products”. Bubs Australia (BUB) advised that “500,000 tins are ready for immediate export to the US”. BUB shares lifted by 40.2 per cent to $0.68, and reached a ~1.5 year high of $0.86 earlier in the session. Shares of the a2 Milk Company (A2M) also climbed 10.4 per cent, pushing the local Consumer Staples sector to post its best daily win in two months.
Liontown Resources (LTR) has finished 5.3 per cent higher after it mutually agreed with Tesla to extend the termination date for its supply agreement. The extension will allow LTR and Tesla, to “complete negotiations for the definitive full form binding offtake agreement”.
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Gold Road Resources (GOR) has improved its takeover offer of DGO Gold (DGO) to 2.25 GOR shares for every DGO share (previously 2.16 GOR shares for every DGO share). The improved offer is set to close at 30 June 2022. Shares of GOR finished 4.2 per cent higher and shares of DGO added 3.5 per cent.
4.4bn shares were traded, worth $8bn. 921 stocks finished higher, 529 ended lower, while 414 closed unchanged.
US financial markets are closed tonight in observance of Memorial Day. This week, Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers are scheduled, along with the US unemployment rate.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
