ASX 200 closes marginally higher; energy & utilities lead gains

Highlights:

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed up today (6 October), gaining 1.80 points or 0.026% to end at 6,817.50 points.
• Over the last five days, the index has gained 4%, but is down 8.42% for the last year to date.
• Energy was the biggest gainer, advancing 2.21% followed by utilities which ended 1.08% up.

The S&P/ASX200 closed higher on Thursday (06 October), gaining 1.80 points or 0.026% to end at 6,817.50 points.

Key pointers from ASX close today

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed up today, gaining 1.80 points or 0.026% to end at 6,817.50 points.
• Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), gained the most on the index, closing 7.17% and 5.68% strong respectively.
• On the benchmark index, Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) and Kelsian Group Ltd (ASX:KLS), marked most of the losses, ending 8.43% and 3.61% lower respectively.
• Over the last five days, the index has gained 4%, but is down 8.42% for the last year to date.
• Five out of 11 sectors closed higher today.
• Energy was the biggest gainer, advancing 2.21% followed by utilities which ended 1.08% up.
• Volatility indicator A-VIX index was down 1.79% at 5.07 PM AEDT.
• The All-ordinaries Index gained 0.037%.

Newsmakers

PolyNovo (ASX:PNV): In the first quarter of FY23, PolyNovo (PNV), a manufacturer of medical devices, posted record quarterly sales.

In comparison to the same period last year, the company reported unaudited total sales of AU$12.5 million for the September quarter.

Meanwhile, shares of Polynovo closed at AU$1.80 per share, up 23.21% on ASX today.

Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2): The mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Eagle Mountain Mining's (EM2) Oracle Ridge Copper Mine project in Arizona has been updated.

The project's measured and indicated resource tonnage increased by 12% to 10.8 million tonnes at 1.5% copper, 15.23 g/t silver, and 0.21 g/t gold at a 1% cut-off, according to the firm.

Meanwhile, shares of Eagle Mountain Mining closed at AU$0.22 per share, up 2.38% on ASX today.

Image Source: © 2022 Kalkine Media ®

Data Source - ASX website dated 06 October 2022

Bond yield

Australia’s 10-year Bond Yield stands at 3.78% as of 5.10 PM AEDT.

In global markets

On Wednesday (5 October) US equities recovered in the afternoon trading sessions after dropping precipitously in the morning trading sessions.

However, all three major indices ended the previous two days' high with a negative close following considerable volatility in the final hour of trading. Nevertheless, it was higher than the indexes' trough from last week.

According to ADP's employment report, the number of jobs added in the US in September was above 208,000. In September, the number of jobs in the private sector rose above expectations.

The market is still being driven by the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases and the impending recession.

S&P 500 fell 0.20% to 3783.28, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 0.25% to 11148.64, Dow Jones tumbled 0.14% to 30273.87, while the small-cap Russell 2000 tanked 0.74% to 1762.69.

In Asia, the Asia Dow was 3.37% up, Nikkei in Japan increased by 0.87% while Shanghai Composite in China lost 0.55% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.43% at 5.19 PM AEDT.

In commodities markets

Crude Oil WTI was spotted trading at US$87.63/bbl while Brent Oil was at US$92.97/bbl at 5.20 PM AEDT.

Gold was at US$1722.61 an ounce, copper was at US$3.585/lbs and iron ore was at US$98/T at 5.20 PM AEDT.