A strong tech-led rebound on Wall Street overnight wasn’t enough to provide a boost for the ASX 200.

The local index finished Wednesday flattish, with Real Estate being the main laggard, falling by 1.3%.

The property sector retreated as NAB announced a hike in its fixed mortgages rates, the second time the bank has lifted the rate in December.

NAB raised its fixed rate mortgage rate by 0.1%, following a 0.5% hike on December 2nd.

The Tech sector meanwhile was the best performer today, rising by around 2.5%,  on the back of Nasdaq’s 2.4% rise overnight.

Tech darling Afterpay (ASX:APT) closed 5% higher following a 7.69% gain for its (soon to be) owner Block Inc (formerly Square).

Mergers & acquisition activities continue to remain elevated even heading into the holiday season.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) announced today that it will acquire the Rincon lithium project from Rincon Mining for $825m.

Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) meanwhile is set to acquire Shep, a Texas based software company. Shep owns a browser extension platform that will allow FLT’s corporate customers to put its own content and user experience on third party websites that they use.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
LNK Link Admin Hldg 5.51 15.0313 12891612 2457210034
PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 2.73 8.7649 28560398 7468616301
SDR Siteminder 6.85 6.3665 626703 1750152168
PXA Pexagroup 17.23 6.0308 368081 2881544055
OCL Objective Corp 19.26 5.4187 19725 1726562886
APT Afterpay Limited 87.49 5.4096 2283309 24631756699
HMCDA Homeco Limited 7.65 5.227 305034 2110236401
HTA Hutchison 0.115 4.5455 298 1492975943
LOV Lovisa Holdings Ltd 19.81 4.5383 221006 2036360292
EBO Ebos Group Ltd 37 4.2254 5390 6521902309
GQG GQG Partners 1.655 4.0881 1000750 4694960640
TPW Temple & Webster Ltd 10.5 4.0634 252852 1215370044
LTR Liontown Resources 1.545 4.0404 11939581 3243842398
UWL Uniti Group Ltd 4.4 4.0189 2315925 2910082005
IEL Idp Education Ltd 35.33 3.9118 1209945 9463431174
LYC Lynas Rare Earths 9.36 3.8846 7420776 8130728102
MIN Mineral Resources. 52 3.7717 1027160 9463284073
VUK Virgin Money Uk PLC 3.23 3.5256 2450042 2751342625
Wordpress Table Plugin

Another potential M&A deal saw Link Administration (ASX:LNK) rising by 15% after receiving a takeover offer fromDye & Durham at $5.50 a share plus $0.03 in interim dividend.

Link’s Board has unanimously endorsed the offer, and the LNK share price is now trading close to offer price at $5.51.

Pexa Group (ASX:PXA), which is owned 42.8% by Link also rose on the news, rising by 6.5%.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
CHC Charter Hall Group 19.99 -7.5393 5234631 10070101572
INR Ioneer Ltd 0.72 -4.6358 8917141 1548164041
ANN Ansell Limited 30.68 -4.155 764589 4097482527
IFT Infratil Limited 7.47 -3.7371 18294 5619352210
RRL Regis Resources 1.85 -3.6458 5543140 1449170492
BKW Brickworks Limited 23.79 -3.6452 300905 3747341119
IMU Imugene Limited 0.405 -3.5714 16916239 2419148071
AVZ AVZ Minerals Ltd 0.685 -3.5211 12920789 2443552387
DRR Deterra 4.19 -3.2333 1840913 2288418544
MFG Magellan Fin Grp Ltd 19.93 -3.0642 2928057 3818259362
MGH Maas Group Holdings 4.8 -3.0303 126602 1449768528
TLX Telix Pharmaceutical 7.85 -2.9666 617062 2306239826
SWM Seven West Media Ltd 0.615 -2.381 625747 1001774491
CDA Codan Limited 9.16 -2.1368 689224 1693073632
Wordpress Table Plugin

Charter Hall (ASX:CHC) is down 9% after announcing its intention to buy out 50% of $18bn-fund Paradice Investment, for a total value of $207m.

CHC has an option to acquire the remaining stake in PIM in FY25, subject to conditions.

CHC says it sees this partnership as an expansion of its funds management capability to service investor customers across multiple equity segments.