ASX 200 ends strong; Consumer Discretionary, A-REIT lead gains

Highlights:

• The S&P/ASX 200 closed higher on Thursday (11 August 2022), gaining 1.12% to 7,071.00.
• The benchmark index has gained 1.38% in last five trading days but is down 5.02% on year-to-date basis.
• Out of eleven, ten sectors ended in green today.
• Consumer Discretionary was the best performing sector, ending 2.01% higher, while Utilities went down 1.65%.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed on a positive note today (August 11), gaining 1.12% to end at 7,071.00. The Australian share market  registered the considerable gain of 78.30 points today after taking cues from the Wall Street. US share markets as well as Asian markets closed higher in their last respective sessions.

Key pointers from ASX close today

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed higher on Thursday.
• Top performing stocks in this index were Life360 Inc. and Novonix Limited, up 13.26% and 10.85% respectively.
• Bottom performing stocks featured Computershare Limited and Rio Tinto Limited ending 5.122% and 3.933% lower respectively.
• In last five trading sessions, the benchmark index has gained 1.38%, but is down 5.02% on year-to-date basis.
• Majority of sectors ended strong. 10 of 11 sectors were higher today, tracking the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
• Consumer Discretionary was the best performing sector, gaining 2.01%. It was followed by A-REIT that ended 1.76% strong. Information Technology and Materials closed 1.30% and 1.18% higher respectively.
• Utilities sector ended 1.65% lower.

News Makers

• Santos Limited (ASX:STO) – Oil and gas giant Santos has acquired Hunter Gas Pipeline to help with getting gas from its Narrabri Project to the domestic market sooner. Hunter Gas Pipeline owns a gas pipeline route from Wallumbilla in Queensland to Newcastle in NSW and this route passes close to Santos’ project. Santos’shares were trading at AU$7.065 apiece, up 1.508% at 3:21 PM AEST.
• Telstra Corporation Limited (ASX:TLS) – Telstra has upped its dividend for the first time in last seven years, taking the final dividend to 16.5 cents per share, despite of the ‘not so good’ financial results for the full year. The company’s net profit fell 4.6% and EBITDA fell 5%.
• AMP Limited (ASX:AMP) – AMP reported a drop in half year underlying profit, losing 24.5% in six months ended 30 June. AMP also announced a AU$1.1 billion capital return, starting with a AU$350 million on-market buyback.
• QBE Insurance Group Limited (ASX:QBE) – QBE announced HY22 statutory net profit after tax of US$151 million, as compared to US$441 million in HY21. Adjusted cash profit after tax reduced to US$169 million from US$463 million in the prior period.

Bond yields

Australia 10-year bond yield stands at 3.314% at 3:33 PM AEST.

In global markets:

Wall Street hailed the drop in inflation figures out on Wednesday. The consumer price index rose 8.5% in July from the July month of last year. On monthly basis, the consumer price index was flat after gaining for 25 straight months.

Federation Reserve has upped the interest rates in both June and July and will be holding a meeting again in September for announcing a further raise.

US stocks marked a straight, strong rally on Wednesday (August 10) soaring towards the close that also featured Nasdaq Composite Index going back to the bullish zone.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 went up 2.13% to close at 4,210.24; the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.89% to end at 12,854.81; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.63% to 33,309.51.

In Commodities markets:

Oil prices dropped in Asia on Thursday as the supply woes start fading away.

Meanwhile, Crude Oil WTI was spotted at US$91.61/bbl at 1:31 PM AEST while Brent Oil was at US$97.12/bbl at 1:32 PM AEST.

Gold was at US$1,800.40 an ounce at 1:32 PM AEST.