Australian shares rose on Monday ahead of a likely pause in interest rate hikes by the country’s central bank, while lithium miner Liontown Resources jumped to top the benchmark index after its board backed a revised $4.3 billion bid from Albemarle.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.6% higher at 7,318.80 after slipping 0.4% on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged on Tuesday as inflation shows signs of easing, according to a Reuters poll of economists who do however largely expect a final hike next quarter.
“The RBA’s tightening seems to have delivered a slowdown in activity, without a contraction, as well as a much-needed disinflationary impulse, pushing inflation towards the target band,” analysts at HSBC said in a note.
Miners jumped 2% to finish at their highest level since Aug. 10, as iron ore futures rallied amid optimism over top steel producer China’s policy support for its struggling property sector.
Liontown Resources soared 8.8% after the lithium developer’s board backed a refreshed A$6.6 billion ($4.27 billion) buyout bid from Albemarle Corp, the world’s biggest lithium producer.
BHP Group ended 2.7% higher after the mining giant said it had received approval from a Brazilian court for a reorganisation plan for its Samarco joint venture.
Energy stocks rose 1.6%, tracking gains in oil prices. Woodside Energy and Santos ended 1.7% and 1.3% higher, respectively.
Australian shares end flat on China gloom
Separately, Qantas apologised for its service standards falling short and acknowledged it was suffering reputational damage after the country’s competition regulator sued it for allegedly selling tickets for thousands of cancelled flights.
Its shares slipped about 3%.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.1% to 11,513.04.
SkyCity Entertainment Group dropped 13.3% after the country’s Department of Internal Affairs applied to temporarily suspend the licence of its SkyCity Casino Management unit.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.