The Australian sharemarket opened higher on Wednesday as it tracked overnight gains on Wall Street after the US Senate voted in favour of government services reopening.
As investors await the Republican-controlled House to vote this evening, the S&P/ASX 200 index gained 14.8 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8833.60 at 10.15am AEDT, with six of the 11 sectors stronger.
Materials continued strong gains made in recent days as a weaker US dollar boosted investor appetite across commodities from expectations that the shutdown would soon end. With gold rising again to be near $US4130 an ounce, Newmont gained 1.3 per cent, Northern Star 0.8 per cent, and Evolution Mining 0.9 per cent.
Rio Tinto offered heavyweight support with a 1.4 per cent rise. Mineral Resources soared 8.1 per cent after it signed a deal with South Korea’s POSCO Holdings to sell a 30 per cent stake in its operational lithium business for $US765 million ($1.2 billion).
A 1.7 per cent jump in Brent crude to $US65.14 a barrel aided a 1 per cent jump in Woodside and 0.9 per cent by Santos.
Financials remained subdued as Commonwealth Bank fell a further 0.3 per cent after a 6.6 per cent dive on Tuesday. National Australia Bank rose 0.1 per cent, Westpac 0.2 per cent and ANZ by 0.3 per cent.
Australian technology shares were the biggest drag on the index, down 2.1 per cent, as Xero lost 1.3 per cent and WiseTech Global 1 per cent. US-based Life360 tumbled 10.3 per cent as investors continue to digest Tuesday’s trading update, which saw user growth numbers come in less than expected despite a strong quarter.
Stocks in focus
In companies news, Liontown Resources jumped 3.2 per cent as it partnered with Metalshub to run its first digital auction for 10,000 tonnes of Kathleen Valley spodumene concentrate.
Aristocrat Leisure slid 3.4 per cent after the poker machine giant posted a 9 per cent increase in net profit to $1.6 billion, reaping the benefits of its NeoGames acquisition and growth in market share across North America and Australia.
DigiCo Infrastructure REIT fell 1.1 per cent as the trust expected contracted Australian IT capacity to jump 95 per cent to 41 megawatts by June 2026, following recent customer wins.
Flight Centre leapt 4.5 per cent as the travel business targeted an underlying profit before tax of $305 million to $340 million for FY26, representing a 5.5 per cent to 17.6 per cent increase on FY25. Managing director Graham Turner noted that second-half earnings are expected to drive growth following a strong start to the year.
ARN Media tumbled 14.2 per cent as it said full-year EBITDA was expected to be 25 to 27 per cent below last year because the Australian advertising market has weakened sharply in the second half of FY25 amid economic uncertainty.
Megaport gained 3.4 per cent as the technology provider completed a $200 million fully underwritten institutional placement to help fund its acquisition of Latitude.sh and accelerate network growth in India.
