• Iron ore miners led the ASX on Tuesday
  • China protests have eased as regulators loosen rules for local property developers
  • Australian consumer confidence up again

The ASX rose marginally on Tuesday as gains in iron ore prices pushed mining stocks higher.

At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 index finished up 0.25% at 7.244.

Protests in China have largely eased today as police were deployed in numbers to stamp out demonstrators.

Separately, Chinese regulators have also today ramped up their liquidity support for local property developers, making it easier for them to get funding.

Iron ore prices in Singapore climbed on the news to above US$100 a tonne this afternoon, lifting miners like Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) by around 3%.

In other stock news, giant healthcare firm Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL) has bought a stake in small cap lister Microba Life Sciences (ASX:MAP), sending the MAP share price 15% higher this morning.

Sonic bought the shares at 26c a share, and is currently seeking to acquire options for a further 5% stake.

Earlier, the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index rose 1.5 points, marking the third consecutive week of gains.

25% of Australians (up 4ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, compared to 46% (down 3ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

And only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to almost two-fifths, 39% (unchanged), that expect ‘bad times.

Meanwhile more bickering between EU governments has reportedly led to a failure to agree on a price cap for Russian oil.

Poland had apparently insisted that the cap be set above the earlier proposal of US$65 a barrel.

“It’s still looking increasingly likely to be done at a level that doesn’t particularly hinder Russia’s ability to sell crude,” said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

Looking ahead to tonight’s session on Wall Street, US home prices for September are scheduled to be released.

In the EU, business and consumer survey is due out, along with services and industrial sentiment for November.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
LTR Liontown Resources 1.03 -7.40 11800466 $2,701,874,659
FBU Fletcher Building 3.70 -6.09 658295 $3,085,191,768
CSL CSL Limited 289.51 -5.08 709946 $147,343,443,385
IGO IGO Limited 6.90 -3.57 2157437 $5,414,464,863
NIC Nickel Industries 0.63 -3.46 3691387 $2,785,776,422
IFL Insignia Financial 2.23 -3.26 848886 $1,533,241,532
SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.53 -3.18 10386275 $1,577,774,482
SKC Skycity Ent Grp Ltd 1.91 -3.05 236734 $1,497,604,262
SQ2 Block 102.27 -2.78 57993 $3,731,605,362
HLS Healius 1.42 -2.75 987752 $1,056,427,548
DYL Deep Yellow Limited 1.47 -2.65 3239154 $1,154,715,624
FPH Fisher & Paykel H. 22.43 -2.61 150839 $13,448,683,596
LFG Liberty Fin Group 4.20 -2.55 30236 $1,309,394,693
CMW Cromwell Prop 0.41 -2.41 639801 $1,086,829,680
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Fisher and Paykel (ASX:FPH) soared 10% after beating revenue guidance for the half.

Revenue came in 23% lower than pcp to $690.6m, but it beat the $670 million guidance. Bottom line NPAT declined by 57% to $95.9m.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) plunged 18% after it reported a 58% decrease in net profit for the half to $11m.

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