• The ASX 200 climbed on Thursday
  • Iron ore, uranium, and coal stocks mostly rallied
  • Australian employment rate held steady in August, blowing past forecasts

 

Local shares climbed on Thursday as the labour market data blew past predictions. At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 index was up +0.6%, practically erasing yesterday’s losses.

The jobless rate came in at 3.7% for August, the same number as July. The ABS said about 64,900 people found work in August, much higher than the 25,000 economists had expected.

“The RBA has seemingly [wound] down its interest rate cycle, but today’s jobs data may heap some pressure on new RBA Governor Michelle Bullock to raise rates further,” said Farhan Badami, market analyst at eToro.

On the ASX, Miners and Financials led the winners, while Healthcare was the only laggard.

Iron ore stocks in particular rallied hard after iron ore futures in Singapore pushed above $US120 per tonne and touched a 6-month high.

BHP (ASX:BHP) rose 1.1%, while Fortescue (ASX:FMG) lifted by over 3.5%.

Uranium stock Paladin (ASX:PDN) and coal stock Coronado Global (ASX:CRN) also rose 4% each.

Elsewhere across the region, Nikkei and Hang Seng fell around -0.2%.

Chinese state media Global Times has called out the European Union’s investigation into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies which was  announced last night, saying it will hurt Europe’s economy and climate goals.

“Trade protectionism will become a poison for the European economy,” wrote the Global Times.

“Clearly, Europe is afraid. They are afraid of competition from China, so they want to seek trade protectionism as a protective umbrella for European auto makers who are slowly transitioning toward electrification.”

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Wordpress Table Plugin

Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) was the best large cap stock today, up 9% on no specific news.

Lithium miner IGO (ASX:IGO) said drilling has commenced at the Double Magic Project in West Kimberley JV, WA. Drill hole at the Merlin Prospect was designed to test a Ground EM conductor modelled at ~7,000 Siemens conductance over an area of 100 square metres. The hole will also provide a platform for additional down hole EM.

Fortescue (AASX:FMG) announced today that the allocation price for shares to be issued to participants in the company’s Dividend Reinvestment Plan for the 2023 final dividend is $19.732. Fortescue had earlier declared a final dividend of $1.00 per share, payable on September 28.

Healius (ASX:HLS) continues to endorse its takeover bid by Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL) to shareholders. The offer was was 0.74 ACL shares for every 1 HLS share.

“ACL continues to believe, based on publicly available information, that the proposed merger is the most value accretive option for Healius shareholders and ACL shareholders,” said Healius, adding that the companies are still waiting for the ACCC’s final decision.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Wordpress Table Plugin

Read MoreLarge Cap

Featured Companies

You might be interested in