At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.87 per cent or 62.6001 points higher at 7,217.40.
This increase was driven by mining and real estate stocks, with investors reacting positively to a potential agreement to raise the US debt ceiling.
IDP Education (ASX: IEL) experienced a significant decline of 15.9% to $21.71 following Canada's announcement of allowing competitors to participate in the Student-Direct-Stream (SDS) segment of student visas.
Select Harvests (ASX: SHV) saw a rise of 8.7% to $4.74 after indicating better conditions for its 2024 crop.
Humm Group (ASX: HUM) recorded a 7.7% increase to 42¢ after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission lifted the stop order placed on Humm's buy now, pay later subsidiary.
ALS (ASX: ALQ) witnessed a drop of 4.2% to $11.75 after announcing a 23.4% increase in underlying continuing net profit after tax for FY23, reaching $321 million.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 124 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 17.25 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 73.75 points.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was REITs, up 1.96 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Consumer Discretionary, down 0.59 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Lynas Rare Earths
(ASX:LYC), closing 3.80 per cent higher at $7.65. It was followed by shares in Mercury NZ
(ASX:MCY) and Meridian Energy
(ASX:MEZ).
The worst-performing large cap was IDP Education
(ASX:IEL), closing 15.92 per cent lower at $21.71. It was followed by shares in ALS
(ASX:ALQ) and Yancoal Australia
(ASX:YAL).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has gained 1.03 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.76 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 2.19 per cent.
Company newsEmpire Energy
(ASX:EEG) has announced a major Beetaloo resource upgrade. In response, MD Alex Underwood stated, “The volumes delineated in EP187 represent a nationally significant resource of low CO2 gas.” Shares closed 5.41 per cent higher at 19.5 cents.
Kula Gold
(ASX:KGD) reports progress on potential lithium bearing pegmatites at the recently acquired Kirup Project. Kula’s CEO Ric Dawson said, “The Kirup Project is progressing to drill programmes on these new prospects.” Shares closed 42.9 per cent higher at 2 cents.
WIA Gold
(ASX:WIA) has intercepted thick, high-grade gold intercepts at their Kokoseb deposit. Executive Chairman, Andrew Pardey, commented: “[One of our holes] confirms that high-grade mineralisation extends to almost 200m below the existing resource.” Shares closed 17.2 per cent higher at 3.4 cents.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1,964.20 an ounce.
Iron ore is 4.4 per cent higher at US$102.45 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 4.88 per cent rise.
Light crude is trading $0.65 higher at US$73.32 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 65.34 US cents.
