IGA operator Metcash’s share price has risen 3.2 per cent after unveiling an 8.1 per cent increase in group revenue to $8.5 billion. Food sales were a highlight, rising 22.6 per cent, while liquor sales increased 4.4 per cent.

Telco giant Telstra has acquired prepaid provider Boost Mobile in a deal understood to be worth just over $200 million. The acquisition, expected to complete this month, will see Boost Mobile employees integrated into Telstra and no changes for Boost’s thousands of prepaid customers. Boost’s prepaid plans are cheaper than Telstra’s, but don’t offer access to the full Telstra network. Telstra shares are up 0.5 per cent in early afternoon trade.

On Wall Street, indexes rose to records in a shortened session on Friday.

Investors monitored shoppers’ response to deep Black Friday discounts. Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a record $US10.8 billion ($16.6 billion) in online purchases, up 9.9 per cent from Black Friday last year.

Shares of Target rose 1.7 per cent and Macy’s climbed 1.8 per cent.

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Tech giants drove Wall Street higher, with Nvidia (up 2.2 per cent) and Tesla (up 3.7 per cent) both making strong gains.

The S&P 500 rose 0.56 per cent to 6,032.44 points after breaching its intraday record high of 6,025.42 set on November 26.

The Dow Jones climbed 0.42 per cent to 44,910.65 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.83 per cent at 19,218.17 points.

“Retailers do a lot of importing. Inventory levels are very important to their profitability and ability to kind of control margins, so they will be one of the industries in the (tariffs) crossfire,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

“But so far ... (things are) looking pretty solid for the Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale.”

Chip stocks rebounded from Wednesday’s declines, sending the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index 1.5 per cent higher.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index also rose 0.4 per cent as Treasury bond yields retreated further from multi-month highs.

With Reuters

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