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The Australian sharemarket was trading stronger at midday on Thursday as it looked to extend its longest winning streak in almost nine years, after US stocks ticked higher overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 19.30 points or 0.2 per cent to 8,029.80 as of 12.01pm AEST, with most sectors in the green, led by information technology (up 1.7 per cent), while healthcare and financial stocks tracked down slightly, and utilities dropped 0.6 per cent. The local bourse has had nine straight positive sessions.
Wall Street is higher across the board.Credit: AP
WiseTech was the biggest large cap advancer, up 6.9 per cent, building on gains on Wednesday, when the logistics software developer reported revenue growth of 28 per cent to just over $1 billion. It hit a record high of more than $120 a share on Thursday. Chief executive Richard White, who owns a 35.2 per cent stake, has seen his personal wealth leap as much as $3.2 billion, to more than $14 billion, in just two days.
At the other end of the tech spectrum, Megaport plummeted 21.8 per cent after its earnings results disappointed the market.
Whitehaven Coal was up 5.4 per cent in the middle of the session. The energy giant is selling a 30 per cent stake in its Blackwater mine to Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, for $US1.1 billion ($1.6 billion). It was followed by another of Wednesday’s earnings winners, pallet maker Brambles, up 2.9 per cent. It posted an 8 per cent rise in sales, to $US6.5 billion.
Rio Tinto was up 0.3 per cent, while Fortescue jumped 1.3 per cent and BHP grew 0.2 per cent at midday, on a strong day for the materials heavyweights. Pilbara Minerals grew 1.2 per cent, while Mineral Resources added 1.7 per cent.
Super Retail surged 6 per cent, after the Supercheap Auto and Rebel Sport owner posted record sales of $3.9 billion, 2 per cent higher year-on-year.
Telix was the biggest large cap decliner, down 2.4 per cent, on a weak day for healthcare stocks. Medibank was down 1.5 per cent, despite the health insurer reporting a rise in net profit of 14.1 per cent to $570.4 million in FY24. It was closely followed by pharmaceutical stocks EBOS Group, down 1.4 per cent.
The big four were all tracking up slightly at midday, apart from Westpac, which shrank 0.4 per cent. The Australian dollar was buying US67.32¢.