a day ago
Closing Bell: ASX rebounds, fuelled by utilities gains
ASX rebounds to set new intraday high, up 0.53pc
Origin Energy leads gains alongside utilities sector
Unemployment rate falls, lowering interest rate cut chances
ASX sets new intraday high
The ASX rebounded powerfully from yesterday's profit taking, adding 0.53% or 46.7 points by the end of the day.
The market briefly touched a new intraday high of 8899 points, but couldn't hold the gains to mark off a new record close as well. We're currently sitting 0.28% off that intraday high.
Today's hero was the utilities sectors, riding high on a surge in Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) shares (+6.3%) alongside some other solid performances among its brethren.
The gas and electricity provider lifted underlying profits by $307m year-on-year and offered up a second 30c dividend to bring the financial year's full offering to 60c a share.
AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) also climbed 2.5%, while Genesis Energy (ASX:GNE) lifted 2.8% and Energy World Corp (ASX:EWC) 1.7%.
Overall, eight of 11 sectors finished higher and the Banks (+1.3%), Tech (+1.3%) and Gold indices (+0.33%) lent their momentum to boot.
Looking for coverage of today's earnings reports? Check out our midday Lunch Wrap courtesy of the preeminent Eddy Sunarto for deets on Westpac (ASX:WBC), Suncorp Group (ASX:SUN), Pro Medicus (ASX:PME), Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) and South32's (ASX:S32) earnings performances today.
More Australians employed more efficiently
The ABS released its employment stats today, which fell overall in line with expectations at 4.2%, with 25,000 jobs created in the past month.
The numbers tell a story of a more efficiently employed workforce, too – part-time workers fell by 36,000 while full employment lifted by 60,000 positions.
Our underutilisation rate – which combines unemployment and underemployment rates – fell by 0.2% to 10.1%, maintaining an ongoing downward trend.
Women's participation in the work force hit a record high this month, with the participation rate reaching 63.5%.
'Trend annual employment growth has been faster than population growth for most of the past year, but has slowed in recent months to be in line with annual population growth in July,' ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said.
The numbers were exactly in line with both the market's and the RBA's expectations, lowering the expectations for a September interest rate cut to 35% according to the ABC's business blog.
That said, expectations for a rate cut before November are still high at 78%.
ASX Leaders
Today's best performing stocks (including small caps):
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
ATV Activeport Group Ltd 0.023 142% 1.52E+08 $6,526,282
GGE Grand Gulf Energy 0.002 100% 804209 $2,820,425
MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.004 60% 46808312 $1,946,223
CRB Carbine Resources 0.006 50% 2879525 $4,000,652
MEL Metgasco Ltd 0.003 50% 100000 $3,674,173
PRM Prominence Energy 0.003 50% 15207265 $972,941
TMX Terrain Minerals 0.003 50% 331104 $5,063,629
OLY Olympio Metals Ltd 0.13 44% 593543 $9,276,057
BPP Babylon Pump & Power 0.007 40% 8348639 $19,034,455
MMR Mec Resources 0.007 40% 9922730 $9,248,829
CR9 Corellares 0.004 33% 750000 $3,021,809
DTI DTI Group Ltd 0.008 33% 66887 $5,382,617
BPH BPH Energy Ltd 0.012 33% 21504358 $10,964,095
FUL Fulcrum Lithium 0.078 26% 460054 $4,681,000
FRB Firebird Metals 0.175 25% 4568697 $19,930,596
BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.01 25% 3181706 $14,807,789
DBO Diabloresources 0.02 25% 1983870 $2,689,854
DTM Dart Mining NL 0.0025 25% 10091666 $2,396,111
CAN Cann Group Ltd 0.016 23% 1108697 $8,466,991
IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.011 22% 4113289 $15,356,699
WTM Waratah Minerals Ltd 0.75 22% 4837566 $143,610,044
DTR Dateline Resources 0.2 21% 57147520 $527,867,058
BB1 Blinklab Limited 0.53 20% 862076 $38,394,908
SOR Strategic Elements 0.042 20% 2378280 $16,586,467
FBR FBR Ltd 0.006 20% 4066783 $28,447,261
In the news…
Activeport (ASX:ATV) has launched Australia's first 'private cloud networking superhighway', Private-Cloud Connect, swiftly bringing three new customers on board.
The networking infrastructure product offers high speed data communication ports, connecting branch offices to private cloud services hosted in colocation data centres.
With AI and data-heavy cloud computing gaining rapidly in property, ATV reckons there's a solid market to corner in connecting private business with high-powered data centres.
Health and wellness food company OMG Group's (ASX:OMG) Blue Dinosaur snack products are set to be stocked in 750 7-Eleven stores across Australia as part of a ranging deal. OMG has been building strong sales momentum in recent months, increasing cash receipts by 42% to more than $1.6m quarter-on-quarter.
ASX Laggards
Today's worst performing stocks (including small caps):
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
GGE Grand Gulf Energy 0.001 -50% 31455 $5,640,850
BEL Bentley Capital Ltd 0.015 -42% 4318593 $1,979,326
DTM Dart Mining NL 0.002 -33% 21263802 $3,594,167
PRM Prominence Energy 0.002 -33% 255120 $1,459,411
SKK Stakk Limited 0.005 -29% 8192 $14,525,558
AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.003 -25% 151531 $5,538,785
AYT Austin Metals Ltd 0.003 -25% 4674800 $6,336,765
MRQ Mrg Metals Limited 0.003 -25% 691143 $10,906,075
AQC Auspaccoal Ltd 0.008 -20% 7558757 $7,004,676
ARV Artemis Resources 0.004 -20% 350432 $14,328,361
OSX Osteopore Limited 0.008 -20% 8341781 $2,372,600
TMX Terrain Minerals 0.002 -20% 1446699 $6,329,536
VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 27625 $23,424,247
OZM Ozaurum Resources 0.062 -17% 2193670 $17,182,640
SRK Strike Resources 0.029 -17% 150000 $9,931,250
EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.03 -17% 115684 $8,863,557
IXC Invex Ther 0.075 -17% 1332 $6,763,846
1AD Adalta Limited 0.0025 -17% 2078341 $3,463,949
FBR FBR Ltd 0.005 -17% 2494829 $34,136,713
GLL Galilee Energy Ltd 0.01 -17% 300000 $8,486,315
MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.0025 -17% 323599 $2,335,467
SPQ Superior Resources 0.005 -17% 7554456 $14,225,896
TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.0025 -17% 12258062 $30,667,149
BVS Bravura Solution Ltd 2.02 -17% 13434796 $1,085,016,685
FNX Finexia Financialgrp 0.17 -15% 145035 $12,460,793
In Case You Missed It
Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) has reported promising early diamond drilling results from the Thomson project in western New South Wales.
DY6 Metals' (ASX:DY6) preliminary metallurgical testing of ore from the Tundulu rare earths and phosphate project in Malawi has identified the opportunity to produce a phosphoric acid grade flotation concentrate co-product.
Sipa Resources (ASX:SRI) has wrapped up RC drilling and is preparing to get an aircore program underway at the Tunkillia North and Nuckulla Hill gold projects.
Argenica Therapeutics (ASX:AGN) now has a clear path forward to clear the clinical hold currently in place on its investigational new drug application that will enable clinical trials for its lead drug ARG-007.
Trading Halts
