ASX 200 rallies 1.6% at open, tech stocks lead gains

Highlights:

• The benchmark index ASX 200 was up 1.66% to 6,648.50 points in the first few minutes of trade on Monday (4 July). 
• All the 11 sectors traded higher today, where Information Technology was the top-performing sector. 
• In today's early morning trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology (Sector) XIJ was up 2.490% at 1374.400 points. 

The Australian share market opened on an encouraging note today following a strong handover from Wall Street last Friday (1 July). Today, the benchmark index ASX 200 was up 1.66% to 6,648.50 points in the first few minutes of trade. On Friday, the ASX 200 closed 0.43% lower at 6,539.90 points.

GNC, CKF: Two ASX 200 shares going ex-dividend this week 

Meanwhile, this week will be strongly watched by Australian ’investors as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to increase the official cash rate from 0.85%to 1.35% in its monetary policy meeting slated to be held on 5 July.   

Also watch: 

Coming to global equities, US stocks fared strongly last Friday as all three major indices closed impressively higher. The S&P 500 ended 1.06% higher at 3,825.33 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.90% higher at 11,127.84 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.05% at 31,097.26 points.  

The first half of this year saw an awful performance by global equities amid consistent rate hikes and recession concerns. It is worth mentioning that on Thursday, the S&P saw its worst first half since the year 1970.  

Friday marked the start of the second half of this year, though on a positive note. It remains to be seen whether the stock market will recover in the upcoming six months or if faces further turmoil, leading to greater market volatility.

Noticeably, the Fed officials are also said to have advocated for a further 75-basis points (bps) rate hike in July, which will likely hit corporate earnings as per market speculations. Meanwhile, the slowdown in China’s growth seems to have a silver lining for investors as it could ease some price pressures.   

Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC):  

The share price of ASX-listed coal miner Whitehaven Coal Ltd remained on investors’ radar on Monday (4 July) after the company provided an update on its share buy-back program. As per the company, the on-market buy-back, capped at $400 million, has progressed well. The buyback commenced on 8 March this year to acquire roughly 10% of shares over twelve months. Whitehaven has stated that a total of $362.6 million of capital has been invested to buy 76.4 million shares at an average price of $4.75 per share.  

The coal miner has also maintained that an additional 26.9 million shares are still to be bought back to reach the maximum 103.3 million shares, which can likely be acquired under the current 10% share buy-back program.  

Suncorp Group Limited (ASX:SUN):  

Shares of ASX-listed insurance company Suncorp Group Limited grabbed investors’ attention on Monday after the company provided an update on a weather event affecting New South Wales (NSW) and parts of South-East Queensland. The company has also confirmed FY22 natural hazard costs and the successful placement of its FY23 reinsurance program. Via today’s announcement, the Group has revealed that in FY22, it dealt with 35 separate events and more than 120,000 natural hazard claims at an anticipated cost of approximately AU$1.1 billion, net of reinsurance recoveries.  

Market Action:   

Coming to the top ASX 200 gainers, Tyro Payments Limited (ASX:TYR), Mesoblast Ltd. (ASX:MSB) and EVENT Hospitality & Entertainment Limited (ASX:EVT) led the pack with 9.917%, 9.558%, and 5.177% gains, respectively. On the flip side, Magellan Financial Group Limited (ASX:MFG), and Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) were the biggest losers, falling 1.616% and 1.340%, respectively.  

 All the 11 sectors traded higher today, where Information Technology was the top performing sector. At the time of drafting, the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology (Sector) XIJ was up 2.490% at 1374.400 points. The Utilities, A-REIT, and Consumer discretionary sectors were up 2.33%, 2.57%, and 2.14%, respectively.  

From AUA to LVH: ASX tech stocks that racked up gains in June