• Telco stocks like Telstra and TPG jumped after Optus outage
  • Mining, oil stocks fell as iron ore and crude prices slumped overnight
  • James Hardie surged 13pc on Q2 update

 

The ASX rose by 0.2% on Wednesday, boosted by rallies in Tech and Comm Services stocks.

Headline news today should have been was all about Glenn Maxwell the nationwide outage of Optus, which is the second biggest network in the country.

While investigations are still ongoing, unlisted Optus (which is owned by Singpore’s SingTel), has ruled out cyberattack as the root cause.

“This is a very, very rare occurrence and when I have more information about the root cause I will be the first to let all our customers know,” said Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

At the time of writing, some Optus services for both fixed lines and mobile are gradually being restored.

Telstra (ASX:TLS) rose 2%, while TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG) rose 1.5% after the incident.

Tech stocks also rallied after Nasdaq notched its eighth straight day of gains overnight, with the Magnificent Seven stocks all advancing and pacing the session.

Main ASX gainers here were Wisetech (ASX:WTC) and Altium (ASX:ALU).

Iron ore and oil stocks meanwhile were down after iron ore prices slumped overnight on weak Chinese data, and crude prices tumbled by over -4%.

Main losers in this sector today were BHP (ASX:BHP), which was down almost 3% and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) which slipped 2%.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian stocks traded in mixed territories as analysts said oil demand outlook in China, the world’s biggest importer, is waning.

Looking ahead tonight, Fed Reserve Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
JHX James Hardie Indust 46.71 13.13 1,664,338 $18,075,640,481
RHC Ramsay Health Care 53.31 4.01 482,289 $11,758,527,811
YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 4.72 3.28 2,026,596 $6,034,408,227
CWY Cleanaway Waste Ltd 2.51 2.87 3,025,539 $5,437,380,139
SQ2 Block 79.21 3.02 122,628 $2,597,491,598
CEN Contact Energy Ltd 7.41 4.37 3,396 $1,807,278,261
MP1 Megaport Limited 10.38 2.77 294,969 $1,606,538,461
MAD Mader Group Limited 6.84 3.48 41,175 $1,322,000,000
ABC Adbri Limited 2.04 3.30 207,212 $1,287,059,200
JDO Judo Cap Holdings 0.93 2.76 105,980 $1,003,917,254
PNV Polynovo Limited 1.37 3.58 699,744 $914,558,395
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James Hardie (ASX:JHX) was the best performing large cap, up 13%, after reporting record Q2 global Adjusted EBITDA of US$285.5 million, with an EBITDA margin of 28.6%. The company also reported record first half operating cash flow of US$459.1 million, up 74% on pcp.

Magellan Financial (ASX:MFG) was up 0.4% after hosting its AGM. A report by the AFR said proxy votes on its remuneration report showed that 58% of shareholders voted against it.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
S32 South32 Limited 3.10 -4.62 17,736,516 $14,720,090,346
NEM Newmont Corporation 56.02 -4.47 1,329,626 $20,042,718,709
CMM Capricorn Metals 4.64 -4.13 551,597 $1,819,637,567
CIA Champion Iron Ltd 7.60 -3.25 1,916,719 $4,060,771,520
AWC Alumina Limited 0.75 -3.23 10,623,918 $2,248,803,098
CRN Coronado Global Res 1.66 -3.21 3,714,888 $2,875,118,147
DEG De Grey Mining 1.18 -3.09 2,346,181 $2,185,900,878
GOR Gold Road Res Ltd 1.85 -2.89 1,847,188 $2,056,681,278
RRL Regis Resources 1.78 -2.86 2,224,511 $1,386,046,713
MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.52 -2.82 3,258 $7,902,170,718
IGO IGO Limited 9.35 -2.50 2,563,216 $7,262,198,327
KAR Karoon Energy Ltd 2.34 -2.50 3,235,204 $1,359,648,022
BHP BHP Group Limited 44.52 -2.28 5,587,330 $230,931,784,696
HLI Helia Group Limited 3.76 -2.21 422,608 $1,180,836,833
RIO Rio Tinto Limited 119.28 -2.08 882,830 $45,217,847,027
SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 8.82 -2.00 208,938 $1,195,530,021
BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 1.39 -1.94 4,076,522 $1,625,842,876
MEZ Meridian Energy 4.55 -1.94 28,296 $5,875,978,000
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