Listless session on Wall Street: Aus shares 0.2% higher at noon

Australian shares have managed a small gain in a very quiet trading session on Tuesday following a listless Monday session on Wall Street.

Bond markets are mixed with Treasury yields declining but Aussie, JGB and New Zealand curves steepening.

At 12pm AEST, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.18 per cent or 12 points higher at 6718.

Recent market bounce is attributed to combination of factors, including peak inflation hopes underpinned in part by falling commodities, weakening economic outlook that is giving support to peak Fed argument, oversold conditions, and quarter-end rebalancing. At the same time, Fed-led tightening of global monetary policy remains a key overhang as central bank officials dial up hawkish rhetoric.

The best-performing sector is Energy, up 2.9 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, down 2.3 per cent.

Company news

ASX-listed natural products player BWX (ASX:BWX) has announced a fully underwritten $23.2 million capital raise.

The raise comprises a $13.5 million placement to sophisticated and professional investors and a $9.7 million "1 for 10" traditional non-renounceable entitlement offer.

The placement of new fully paid ordinary shares is fully underwritten at 60 cents per share, representing a 48.7 per cent discount to the last closing price of $1.17 per BWX share on 23 June 2022.

BWX shares are currently trading down 39.3 per cent at $0.71.

Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) is to raise $400 million in debt via the issue of capital notes to be listed on the ASX. The offer is to open on July 6 and will be available to retail and institutional investors.

Macquarie has also slashed its dividend ratio to between 50 and 70 per cent of earnings and launched a $1.5 billion institutional share placement in November 2021 as it looks to secure cash.

MQG shares are currently trading down 0.2 per cent at $166.

Tasmanian salmon farming company Tassal (ASC:TGR) has rejected a third buyout proposal from Canadian aquaculture company Cooke, and is refusing to engage in talks, arguing the latest $4.85 a share offer still undervalues the company.

Tassal’s board said the company has an “attractive independent future” where it will be better off going it alone. The latest Cooke bid values Tassal at $1.04 billion and is at a 22 per cent premium to Tassal’s close of $3.97 on Monday.

TGR shares are currently trading 13.35 per cent higher at $4.50.

BlueBet (ASX:BBT) has signed a 10-year market access agreement with Caesars Entertainment to operate a new online sportsbook in Indiana under the ClutchBet B2C brand.

BlueBet Chief Executive Officer, Bill Richmond, commented:

“We are excited to announce our agreement with Caesars Entertainment, to secure market access in Indiana, one of the US’s major sporting markets.

“BlueBet now has market access in four US states, which provides a strong platform to roll out our B2C brand, ClutchBet, and demonstrate the capability of our technology and team to run profitable sportsbooks in the US."

Shares in BlueBet are currently trading 12.77 per cent higher at $0.53.

Shares in Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) are up more than 11.9 per cent to $10.01 on strong full-year results by the owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Sizzler chains in Australia, Asia and Europe.

The group earlier today posted a 11.1 per cent increase in full-year revenue to $1.12bn with profit up 68.1 per cent to $54.8m.

American Rare Earths Limited (ASX:ARR) today announced highly promising assay results from recent exploration drilling in the Halleck Creek Rare Earth project in Wyoming, USA.

AAR shares are currently trading 19.57 per cent higher at $0.275.

Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) announced today that it has further expanded its US retail footprint with a new supplier agreement signed with Target for purchase of 30,000 Bubs infant formula tins to be distributed across an initial 280 stores.

Target is a major player on the $4.7Bn US infant formula category with over 1,934 stores across the US.

BUB shares are trading 1.55 per cent lower at $0.635.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is Energy, up 2.9 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, down 2.3 per cent.

The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Collins Foods (ASX:CKF), trading 11.9 per cent higher at $10.01. It is followed by shares in Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and Beach Energy (ASX:BPT).

The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Imugene (ASX:IMU), trading 10.4 per cent lower at $0.21. It is followed by shares in City Chic Collective (ASX:CCX) and Life360 (ASX:360).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1825.06 an ounce.
Iron ore is 4.0 per cent higher at US$119.60 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.98 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 69.18 US cents.