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The ASX jumped out of the blocks this morning and made a new all-time high at 8148.8, though it was the magnitude of a beez……foot, just 1/10th of 1 pt above the previous all-time, intra-day high set on the 1st August at 8148.7. Stocks ultimately drifted lower through the session with some interesting corporate news flow hitting the tape, but little that turned the dial at the index level
- The ASX 200 added +19pts/+0.24% closing at 8140
- IT (+1.1%), REITs (+0.7%) and Industrials (+0.4%) outperformed.
- Financials (+0.2%), Staples (0.1%) & Materials (+0.05%) lagged the broader market, though all sectors finished higher.
- Platinum Asset Management (PTM) +12.63% rallied on a non-binding approach from Regal Partners (RPL) –3.03%, with PTM shares closing at $1.115, smack on the implied bid amount which consists of 0.274 RPL shares per PTM share + a dividend of $0.24 = $1.117, though franking credits would also be added to that with a value of ~$0.10.
- Xero (XRO) +2.6% rallied on news they are acquiring global cloud reporting, insights and analytics company Syft Analytics for up to $US70mn.
- New Hope Corp (NHC) +1.65% Reported FY24 results today that were broadly in line from an earnings perspective, and a slight beat in terms of the dividend.
- Pacific Smiles (PSQ) +6.3% rallied on an increased bid from Genesis Capital.
- Adairs (ADH) +2.3% has a new CEO after appointing former Country Road managing director Elle Roseby.
- Webjet (WEB) +1.74% shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of demerging the company into two separate ASX-listed entities, with the company set to relist on the ASX as Webjet Travel and Webjet Group.
- Iron Ore was flat in Asia, Fortescue (FMG) added 1.75%, BHP Group (BHP) – was unchanged.
- Gold was trading $US2584/oz around our close, largely unchanged, gold stocks pulled back from highs.
- Asia was mixed, Hong Kong up 1.3%, the Nikkei in Japan was down -0.7%, while China was off -0.5%
- US Futures are mildly higher.
