The ASX has bounced around today. After a weak start, the market gradually rose in the afternoon session. At the closing bell, the ASX/200 was 0.2 per cent or 12 points higher at 7,437.
Energy stocks continued to dominate after a surge in oil prices. Banks and miners lifted in the afternoon session while Brambles, health and tech stocks continued to be the main drags.
The energy sector was up 4.5 per cent. Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) closed 6.3 per cent higher, Santos
(ASX:STO) closed 5.2 per cent higher and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) closed 7.2 per cent higher as the best-performing stock.
After a dip in iron ore prices, heavyweight miners BHP
(ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) both closed 0.5 higher while Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) closed 2.2 per cent lower. Chalice Mining
(ASX:CHN) closed 6.5 per cent higher.
Major banks all finished in the black. Westpac
(ASX:WBC) climb to the top and closed 0.7 per cent higher after announcing the block of its Pacific business sale this morning.
Brambles
(ASX:BXB) continued to weigh on the market closing 8.9 per cent lower, after the supply-chain logistics company commenced an investor briefing yesterday. Health stocks Fisher and Paykel
(ASX:FPH) and ResMed
(ASX:RMD) closed 3.7 per and 3.1 per cent lower.
Buy-now-pay-later provider Afterpay
(ASX:APT) closed 1.4 per cent lower while Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) closed 2.6 per cent lower, following its investor briefing released today.
Local economic newsAustralian Bureau of Statistics dropped their residential property indexes for the June quarter along with overseas arrivals and departures for July.
Residential property prices rose 6.7 per cent this quarter and rose 16.8 per cent over the last 12 months. The total value of residential dwellings in Australia rose $596.4 billion to $8,924.6 billion this quarter. International travel arriving in and departing from Australia in July: Total arrivals reached 74,860, a monthly decrease of 27,620 trips, while total departures reached 87,020, a monthly decrease of 11,320 trips.
National Australian Bank
(ASX:NAB) released their business survey for August 2021, reflecting an uncertainty in the economy as lockdowns persist and the timing of re-opening venues remains unknown. Business conditions rose by 4 points to +14 index points in August after declining sharply over the previous two months. Improvements in the trading (up 7 points) and profitability (up 10 points) sub-indexes drove the result, while employment edged down further (down 2 points). The result saw business conditions remain elevated above their average across all states.
Company newsPlease join us for Stocks of the Hour
here.Papua New Guinea’s watchdog has blocked the sale of Westpac’s
(ASX:WBC) Pacific businesses to ASX-listed Kina Securities
(ASX:KSL).
Cimic’s
(ASX:CIM) subsidiary UGL has won a government contract extension worth more than $100 million, in order to expand its transport project.
HomeCo Daily Needs
(ASX:HDN) has raised $88.3 million, and will use the funding to acquire six different properties.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 39 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 5 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 11 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a flat start when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was Energy, up 4.5 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Industrials, down 1.1 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT), closing 7.2 per cent higher at $1.11. It was followed by shares in Chalice Mining
(ASX:CHN) and Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Brambles
(ASX:BXB), closing 8.3 per cent lower at $11.24. It was followed by shares in Uniti Group
(ASX:UWL) and Monadelphous Group
(ASX:MND).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has gained 0.7 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.7 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 0.8 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1792.90 an ounce.
Iron ore is 4.5 per cent lower at US$123.84 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 0.2 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.55 higher at US$70.74 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.32 US cents
