The sharemarket managed to chart its second record high of the week on Thursday, despite an unexpected gain in the labour market and slumping iron ore prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 71.3 points, or 0.9 per cent, to close at a fresh peak of 8355.9 points. The All Ordinaries added 0.8 per cent
Bank stocks led the charge after a strong earnings report from Morgan Stanley overnight. Commonwealth Bank rallied 1.6 per cent to $142, Westpac added 2.6 per cent to $32.55, ANZ gained 1.3 per cent to $31.82 and National Australia Bank rose 1.7 per cent to $39.12.
Investors took some money off the table after a robust employment report tempered rate-cut bets. The data showed the Australian economy added 64,100 jobs in September, more than double the market expectations.
One in three
Money markets now imply less than a one-in-three chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will lower the cash rate by December. That’s down from a 50:50 chance before the economic report.
“Ultimately, this means less pressure on the RBA to bring forward its rate cut timeline,” said Russel Chesler, head of investments and capital markets at VanEck. “The hot jobs market is preventing inflation from falling much further, as it is keeping services inflation persistently high.”
Iron ore miners weighed on the local bourse late in the session after news that China’s Ministry of Housing would expand a program to support the nation’s ailing property sector to 4 trillion yuan ($820 billion) fell short of the market’s expectations.
Iron ore slipped 2.5 per cent lower to a three-week low near $US102 per tonne in Singapore. BHP dipped 1.3 per cent to $42.99, Rio Tinto fell 1.8 per cent to $118.63 and Fortescue dropped 2.7 per cent to $19.91.
ASX uranium stocks were a rare bright spot for mining investors, surging after Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and hedge fund manager Ken Griffin detailed plans to back a $US500 million investment into nuclear small reactors. The news came one day after Google signed a similar deal to gain access to small nuclear reactors to meet the tech giant’s increasing need for energy.
On the ASX, Boss Energy jumped 6.7 per cent to $3.46 and Paladin Energy gained 11 per cent to $13.03.
Stocks on the move
AMP rocketed 17.7 per cent to $1.60 after the financials services giant reported $750 million in cashflow from its wealth platforms in the September quarter, up 76 per cent on a year earlier.
Star Entertainment jumped 13.7 per cent to 29¢ following a much-anticipated decision by regulators to allow the company to keep the doors of its struggling Sydney casino open. The company will have to pay a $15 million fine and remain under the supervision of a government-appointed manager following the decision by the NSW Independent Casino Commission.
Shares in OFX Group, which provides foreign exchange services to small-medium businesses and other clients, dived 35.8 per cent to $1.465 after the company said earnings had dropped to just $29 million in the six months through September.