The rally in the sharemarket saw a stellar performance as a handful of blue-chip players unveiled strategies and sweetened deals. At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.6 per cent or 43 points higher at 7,460.
The local bourse rose as high as 0.9 per cent before digesting the August jobs report which showed a fall in hours work largely due to the lockdowns. The minor fade was pressured lower as iron ore prices weighed however, energy stocks came to offset the trend as oil prices surged over 3 per cent.
Across the sectors, the gains were broadly across the board with consumer discretionary as the outlier by hugging the flatline. Energy powered up by 1.3 per cent as the best performer followed by financials and healthcare, up 0.9 per cent and industrials added 0.8 per cent. Materials and technology marginally rose by 0.2 per cent each.
Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) closed 0.6 per cent higher at $56.98 on a sweetened the deal to takeover Priceline owner, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries
(ASX:API) for $770 million. Shares in API catapulted 16.1 per cent at $1.47.
Telecom giant Telstra
(ASX:TLS) closed 0.5 per cent higher at $3.95 on plans to slash $500 million of costs in a bid to focus on growth after it unveiled its T25 strategy and its plans around future payouts to shareholders. Shares in Telstra Corporation
(ASX:TLS)BHP
(ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank
(ASX:CBA) and biotech CSL
(ASX:CSL) advanced by over 1 per cent. Woodside
(ASX:WPL) closed 2.5 per cent higher while AMP
(ASX:AMP) hit an all-time low of $1 closing flat. South32
(ASX:S32) closed 4.1 per cent higher on firmer metal prices.
Meanwhile, Asian markets opened lower as profit taking continues from yesterday bucking the trend from Wall St’s rebound.
Tonight, investors will look to stateside for their weekly jobless claims and retail sales numbers ahead of the Fed meeting next week.
Local economic newsThe nation’s unemployment rate fell to 4.5 per cent in August, from 4.6 per cent a month earlier, despite lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Westpac group economists were expecting the unemployment rate to climb to 5 per cent as covered this morning.
Total employment fell by 146,300 against the expectation of 150,000 while the country’s participation rate fell to 65.2 per cent versus the expectation of 65.5 per cent.
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Bouncing back from the havoc of Covid-19, department store Myers
(ASX:MYR) unveiled a $51.7 million profit for their full-year ending 31 July this year.
Real estate property giant Domain Holdings
(ASX:DHG) has inked a deal worth up to $159 million to acquire Insight Data Solutions (IDS).
Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) sweetened the deal to takeover Priceline owner, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries
(ASX:API) for $770 million.
Telecom giant Telstra
(ASX:TLS) is set to slash $500 million of costs in a bid to focus on growth after it unveiled its T25 strategy and its plans around future payouts to shareholders.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 20 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 2 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 14 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 51 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was energy, up 1.3 per cent. The worst-performing sector was consumer discretionary, down 0.1 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Chalice Mining
(ASX:CHN) closing 6.4 per cent higher at $7.85 followed by shares in AUB Group
(ASX:AUB) and Incitec Pivot
(ASX:IPL).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Redbubble
(ASX:RBL) closing 6.9 per cent lower at $3.81 followed by shares in Soul Pattinson (WH)
(ASX:SOL) and Pilbara Minerals
(ASX:PLS).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has lost 0.6 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 2 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 1 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1785.69 an ounce.
Iron ore is 4.1 per cent lower at US$116.65 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 5.1 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.10 higher at US$72.43 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.23 US cents.
