Loading

The big four banks all finished stronger, with the financials sector up 0.9 per cent.

The laggards

Freight operator Aurizon was the biggest large cap decliner. Its shares dropped 8.8 per cent despite the company announcing a buyback of up to $150 million worth of its shares after a 25 per cent rise in annual net profit.

Beach Energy shares plunged 12.6 per cent after writedowns on oil and gas, previously raised in June, and reporting an annual net loss of $475.3 million, down from a net profit in 2023 of $400.8 million.

Rio Tinto shares slipped 1.4 per cent and BHP dropped 0.5 per cent as unions negotiating Labor’s industrial relations changes with BHP called on Rio Tinto to do the same. Mineral Resources (down 3.8 per cent) was the second-biggest large cap decliner, followed by Pilbara Minerals (down 2.4 per cent). Fortescue lost 1.4 per cent.

The lowdown

Craig Woolford, senior research analyst at MST Marquee, said JB Hi-Fi’s outperformance of market expectations after a challenging year for sales showed it was “doing an excellent job in winning market share in parts of their business”, including mobile phones.

However, he said the boost to other consumer discretionary stocks was unlikely to last, as “broader measures of industry data show the electronics industry is still lacklustre, found at low, single-digit growth at best”.

“It would be a bit dangerous to extrapolate [JB Hi-Fi’s results] to other retailers,” he said, adding that earnings season would likely see consumer businesses with much weaker updates.

Capital senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said the rebound in domestic technology stocks was “simply a function of the rally on Wall Street”, while financial stocks were “attempting to dig out of last week’s hole”.

“US growth fears persist, but investors are patiently waiting for unemployment claims and retail sales data to gauge the situation,” he said.

Loading

The latest ASX move followed a manic week that began with Japanese stocks falling to their worst loss since 1987’s Black Monday, only for US stocks to soar later to their best day since 2022 on Friday.

The gains pulled the S&P 500 Index back within 5.7 per cent of its record high set last month, after it had sunk nearly 10 per cent below that level early in the week. It was a vicious return of volatility for a market that had been rising smoothly. Still, worries are high about the strength of the US economy, and reports are due this week on inflation, sales at retailers and other measures of strength.

On Thursday will come an update on how much shoppers are spending at US retailers. Households at the lower end of the income spectrum have been struggling to keep up with still-rising prices, but economists expect the report to show a return to growth after a stall in retail spending during June.

Another report on Thursday will show how many US workers are applying for unemployment benefits. Looming over them all will be the latest updates on inflation. A worst-case scenario would be if Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s inflation reports show higher-than-expected rises in prices at the wholesale and consumer levels.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“I’m not aware of discussion around cultural backgrounds, but there is now a lot of focus on having age diversity in companies that are consumer- or tech-exposed. You don’t want to have a pale, male, stale 65-year-old advising a fast-moving consumer goods company which primarily serves young women,” said Ownership Matters director Dean Paatsch on women now holding almost 40 per cent of board roles at Australia’s biggest companies.

You may have missed

Allegations of shadow directing have been made in the administrator’s report of the failed group that operated the Wilkie Creek coal mine in south-western Queensland.

with AP

The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.