• The ASX touches a 5-month high today
  • The market rallied after a soft CPI reading
  • MinRes and Beach Energy rose after quarterly updates

 

The ASX 200 rallied by almost 1% today, touching levels not seen since February.

Traders were in buy mode after the CPI release at 11.30am which showed that Australia’s headline inflation had eased to 6% in June from the 7% in May.

The figure was even lower than the 6.2% economists had predicted.

While the reading is good news, there is still a long way to go in order to bring inflation back to the RBA’s target of 2–3%. And this result means the RBA faces a tough conversation at its meeting next week, especially when the jobs market is still strong,

“But ultimately, some of the pressure on the RBA to hike in August has now been relieved,” said Josh Gilbert, a market analyst at eToro.

Bond traders are ascribing a 54% chance of a 25bp increase by the RBA next week.

On the ASX, Mining stocks led as all sectors except for Utilities rose.

Large cap tickers hitting highs today were property company REA Group (ASX:REA), which claimed a 12-month high after rising 2%.

Tech darling WiseTech (ASX:WTC) hit a record high after rallying by 1.5%. The WTC share price has risen by 70% in the last 12 months.

In other markets, the Aussie dollar dropped by almost 1% to US67.3c after the inflation report, while bond yields tumbled.

This comes ahead of the Fed decision later today (US time).

 

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Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) jumped after reporting Q4 mining Services production volumes of 58Mt and 248Mt for FY23, in line with revised guidance of 245-255Mt.

Total June quarter iron ore shipments were 4.3M wet metric tonne (wmt), resulting in FY23 shipments of 17.5M wmt.

During the quarter, MinRes announced a significant natural gas discovery at North Erregulla Deep-1 4. The company also completed the acquisition of Norwest Energy NL in April.

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) rallied after reporting a 12% quarter on quarter increase in production to 5.0 MMboe. FY23 full year production is now 19.5 MMboe.

Revenue was up 27% quarter-on-quarter to $450 million, while FY23 full year revenue was $1,617 million.

Beach said its FY23 full year results and FY24 guidance will be released on 14 August.

 

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Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) fell on no specific news, but the company did announce that it has given financial assistance to employees for the purchase of shares in Meridian.

The MyShare Scheme is designed to provide Meridian’s employees with an opportunity to buy shares in Meridian and receive bonus shares for continuing to be an employee and shareholder.

Shipbuilder Austal (ASX:ASB) meanwhile slumped 11% after warning that it may swing into a loss after a big blowout in costs associated with a US Navy contract.

Based on the outcome of a review, Austal says EBIT guidance for FY23 has now been reduced from earnings of approximately $58 million to an expected range between zero profit to a potential loss of $10 million.

 

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