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Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day, and how the experts saw it.
The numbers: The Australian sharemarket held on to its gains during Wednesday’s session almost fully recovering from yesterday’s six-week low, as energy companies countered a mixed trading session on Wall Street that saw US markets break a 4-day losing streak.
The S&P/ASX200 finished the day up 1.3 per cent, or 90.8 points, to 7115.1 points, lifted by miners and energy companies, particularly Origin Energy, whose takeover remains on track despite the federal government’s decision to impose temporary price caps on gas.
The ASX opened in the green on Wednesday morning, buoyed by energy players.Credit:iStock
The lifters: Material stocks did the heavy lifting today, with 9 of 10 of Wednesday’s top performers from this sector. Evolution Mining, St Barbara and Silver Lake Resources led the charge, up 8.1 per cent, 8 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively. Gold miner Newcrest jumped 6.5 per cent on the back of buoyant gold prices.
Origin Energy was one of the top players of the day, finishing up 6.6 per cent after the North American consortium behind an $18.4 billion takeover offer for the electricity generator informed the company it has not identified “adverse matters” that could derail its bid, despite market concerns about the east coast gas price caps.
The big miners closed in positive territory, with BHP up nearly 2.4 per cent, Rio Tinto pushing 1.7 per cent higher and Fortescue climbing 3 per cent. The banks had a mixed session, with CBA slipping 0.5 per cent and NAB closing flat.
The laggards: Only a handful of companies finished in the red: battery materials company Novonix was the day’s biggest loser, shedding 7.4 per cent, followed by lithium player Liontown Resources, which slipped 1.9 per cent on the back of concerns raised by investment bank Barrenjoey about the long-term prospects for lithium prices, as production costs go up and demand starts to falter.
Accessories retailer Lovisa ended the day 1.3 per cent softer, while TPG Telecom finished 1.1 per cent lower after the ACCC blocked a landmark infrastructure deal between it and Telstra, warning it would lessen competition and leave Australian mobile users worse off. Telstra shares dipped 0.5 per cent.
The lowdown: Wednesday’s strong finish took at least one investor caught off guard, with VanEck deputy head of investments & capital markets Jamie Hannah surprised by how cheerful investors were.