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Promising signs the Melbourne lockdown will ease on schedule helped Aussie shares edge to a new high and their fourth gain from five sessions.
The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 11 points or 0.15 per cent as travel and tourism stocks rebounded. The index hit a new record – its fifth in a row – at 7315.6 before easing to 7292.6.
Gains in growth stocks and bond proxies helped offset declines in the miners, CBA and ANZ.
What moved the market
Travel and tourism stocks rose after Acting Premier James Merlino said Victoria was on track to ease restrictions this week. The state recorded just two new locally-acquired cases yesterday, down from 11 the previous day. Both cases were linked to previous clusters and had “limited community exposure”.
“We remain on track to later in this week announce, as we have said we have planned to do all along, further easings of restriction in regional Victoria and careful easing of restrictions in Melbourne,” Mr Merlino said.
Webjet bounced 1.59 per cent, Flight Centre 1.84 per cent, Qantas 1.26 per cent and Corporate Travel Management 0.62 per cent. Travel-related stocks slumped yesterday after a weekend spike in cases muddied the prospects of restrictions lifting on Thursday night, as scheduled.
Today’s wider action broadly mirrored yesterday’s market trend. Growth stocks tied to lending rates rallied on the back of yesterday’s sharp drop in bond yields. Cyclical stocks tied to economic growth mostly followed their Wall Street counterparts lower.
Overnight, US stocks finished mixed as the tug of war between growth and value stocks continued. The Nasdaq Composite put on 0.49 per cent as tech stocks outperformed. The Dow shed 0.36 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 0.08 per cent.
US futures trimmed gains as a sell-off in cryptocurrencies gathered pace. S&P 500 futures were last ahead less than a point or 0.02 per cent. Bitcoin fell to a two-week low this afternoon and was last down 4.5 per cent at US$32,909. Other digital tokens shed between 5 and 7 per cent.
The Victorian lockdown helped clip 0.6 per cent off this week’s consumer confidence data. The ANZ/Roy Morgan index eased to 110.7 from 111.4 the week before.
Business conditions continued to improve, but confidence slipped last month from elevated levels. The conditions index hit a record +37. Confidence dipped three points to +20.
“The ongoing strength in conditions is promising – as it suggests the economy has continued to grow after recovering its pre-COVID level in Q1. The ongoing strength across all industries reflects those that are still recovering but also other sectors such as construction and manufacturing which have moved into a new growth phase,” NAB Group Chief Economist Alan Oster said.
Winners’ circle
EML Payments led a tech advance, rising 6.03 per cent. WiseTech gained 5.84 per cent, Nearmap 4.55 per cent and Afterpay 0.85 per cent.
In the REIT space, Vicinity Centres climbed 2.44 per cent, Scentre Group 2.15 per cent and GPT 2.12 per cent. Goodman Group, which hit a post-GFC high yesterday, faded 0.68 per cent.
The healthcare sector touched its strongest level of the year. CSL gained 0.9 per cent, Sonic 0.71 per cent and Cochlear 1.11 per cent.
A rebound in gold kept the sub-sector buoyant. Perseus rose 1.86 per cent, Ramelius 1.63 per cent and Newcrest 0.33 per cent.
Carsales.com rose 0.58 per cent after institutional investors snapped up a shortfall in a retail offer to raise funds to buy a 49 per cent stake in the Trader Interactive digital marketing company. The institutional and retail offers together raised around $600 million.
Doghouse
A second straight setback for iron ore plus a dip in copper helped send BHP down 0.96 per cent. Rio Tinto eased 0.93 per cent and Fortescue Metals 1.02 per cent.
CBA slipped further from Friday’s record close, fading 0.44 per cent. ANZ dropped 0.21 per cent. NAB bounced 0.49 per cent and Westpac added 0.38 per cent.
Other drags on the index included Telstra -0.28 per cent, Woodside -0.5 per cent and Woolworths -0.21 per cent.
Ansell retreated 0.72 per cent after announcing Neil Salmon will replace Magnus Nicolin as CEO and Managing Director. Mr Salmon is currently president of Ansell’s industrial business unit.
Aurizon closed flat after reaffirming full-year earnings guidance. The rail freight operator expects to earn around $870 – $910 million as it targets new markets and supply chains as part of a global shift from coal.
Other markets
Asian markets turned negative after a broadly positive start to the day. The Asia Dow rolled over to a loss of 0.16 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite faded 0.87 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.35 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 0.19 per cent.
Oil extended last night’s retreat from two-year highs. Brent crude fell 50 cents or 0.7 per cent to US$70.99 a barrel.
Gold lost its grip on US$1,900. The yellow metal was last up 40 cents or 0.02 per cent at US$1,899.20 an ounce.
The dollar dipped 0.19 per cent to 77.41 US cents.
